Volkswagen has teamed up with Aeris, the company devoted to all things related to, well, the "internet of things." The partnership gave birth to a new joint venture the two have named Ventic.
Ventic will be responsible for VW's next-generation Car-Net system, scheduled for deployment in most 2020 model year cars from the brand, the company announced today. Beyond that, the German automaker said the joint venture gives it a "customizable" approach to connected-car technology.
Housing everything inside Ventic will allow the company to tailor technology to certain vehicle models, or regions. All the while, even with differences, everything will remain a single Ventic-built technology platform.
"This platform has inherent flexibility, which enables new business models through third-party integration and is foundational for vehicle-to-everything communications," VW Chief Information Officer Abdallah Shanti said in a statement.
As mentioned with reference to V2X technology, the platform will also support other future-forward capabilities. For example, the future Car-Net system will allow users to change access rules. It's important if VW every dives into car sharing and other mobility services in a big way. Car-Net will be the brains behind it all.
On the day-to-day side of things, Ventic's work will bear a snappier user interface with the next-generation of Car-Net. There's also built-in cloud support. At the end of this long road we call connected-car tech, VW foresees a day where the car is always online -- truly a computer on wheels to serve drivers as more than just simple transportation.
