VW Chief: Data Key Issue For Future Of Self-Driving Cars

Data that are crucial for the safety of self-driving cars, and the way they are handled, will be important issues that the technology will have to deal with at some point down the line, predicts Volkswagen Group chief executive Herbert Diess, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Photo Insert: Chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen Group, Herbert Diess

However, much work is still needed before such cars become widely available, he told dpa and dpa-AFX news agencies.

VW plans to ramp up electric mobility and digitization in order to win market share in the United States, a key market for the German carmaker. In Germany, the government plans to test self-driving cars "in regular operation" in projects from 2022.

Volkswagen's strategy includes implementing the technology in the medium term. "By 2030, we expect to see fleet operations and also private cars driving autonomously for stretches," Diess said.

He said there would likely be setbacks, but the date is still just eight or nine years away. "There are very large development resources going into it worldwide." The project rests on using artificial intelligence (AI) to perceive different driving situations.

Diess said the technology was progressing very quickly at the moment. "But the safety hurdles are also significant," he noted.

The use of vehicle data is also becoming an increasingly important issue. Networking drivers, carmakers and service providers means addressing different values, he said.

"In China, data are considered a common good, available for the people's good. In America, data are predominantly seen as an economic good, is not public, but remains with the companies, with Google, with Apple, in order to serve the business model there. And in Europe, we have a very strong focus on the user's data sovereignty."

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