Luxury car maker Porsche is contemplating complete integration of Google software into its car cockpit, according to reports quoting sources, signaling a change in its strategy for carmaker that has got itself listed .
The agreement, which is only being viewed for the Porsche brand and not the Volkswagen Group as a whole, would provide Porsche customers with access to Google applications such as Google Maps and Google Assistant without the need to connect the car to an Android phone.
Porsche and Google representatives were not immediately available for comment. A spokesperson for Volkswagen's Cariad software unit declined to comment.
Porsche Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke stated on a conference call last October that the company was in close contact with Google and Apple, as well as Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba in China, following the termination of its software research and development collaboration with Volkswagen's Cariad unit.
According to Manager Magazin, which first reported the talks, Porsche had previously been hesitant to use Google software because Google asked for too much data to be shared.
As software becomes an integral part of car design, technology companies ranging from Google to Apple and Amazon are racing to control carmakers' dashboards.
Carmakers such as General Motors, Renault, Nissan, and Ford use Google technology embedded in their vehicles through a Google Automotive Services (GAS) package, which includes features such as Google Maps, Google Assistant, and other applications.
However, some automakers are wary of giving the tech titans unrestricted access to the data generated by connected cars, or of allowing them to replace the automakers' brands in dashboard displays with their own.
BMW, for example, was "definitely not taking the path" of incorporating GAS into its vehicles, according to a spokesperson on Thursday: "It is important to the company to retain control of the customer interface," they said.
Porsche, which surpassed its former parent as Europe's most valuable carmaker after going public last September, reported a 3% increase in deliveries in 2022 earlier on Thursday.
(Source:www.financialpost.com)
The agreement, which is only being viewed for the Porsche brand and not the Volkswagen Group as a whole, would provide Porsche customers with access to Google applications such as Google Maps and Google Assistant without the need to connect the car to an Android phone.
Porsche and Google representatives were not immediately available for comment. A spokesperson for Volkswagen's Cariad software unit declined to comment.
Porsche Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke stated on a conference call last October that the company was in close contact with Google and Apple, as well as Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba in China, following the termination of its software research and development collaboration with Volkswagen's Cariad unit.
According to Manager Magazin, which first reported the talks, Porsche had previously been hesitant to use Google software because Google asked for too much data to be shared.
As software becomes an integral part of car design, technology companies ranging from Google to Apple and Amazon are racing to control carmakers' dashboards.
Carmakers such as General Motors, Renault, Nissan, and Ford use Google technology embedded in their vehicles through a Google Automotive Services (GAS) package, which includes features such as Google Maps, Google Assistant, and other applications.
However, some automakers are wary of giving the tech titans unrestricted access to the data generated by connected cars, or of allowing them to replace the automakers' brands in dashboard displays with their own.
BMW, for example, was "definitely not taking the path" of incorporating GAS into its vehicles, according to a spokesperson on Thursday: "It is important to the company to retain control of the customer interface," they said.
Porsche, which surpassed its former parent as Europe's most valuable carmaker after going public last September, reported a 3% increase in deliveries in 2022 earlier on Thursday.
(Source:www.financialpost.com)