Volkswagen extends Amazon Web Services partnership to drive AI-powered savings

Volkswagen has extended its 'factory cloud' partnership with Amazon Web Services by another five years, the German carmaker said on Thursday, as it rolls out the use of artificial intelligence to improve production and reduce costs.

The company partnered with the cloud computing services unit of Amazon.com to create a digital production platform, or DPP, which Volkswagen says is already used in 43 locations in Europe, North America and South America.

Globally, Volkswagen has over 114 production sites.

"Our ambition is to become a global technology driver for the automotive industry. To this end, we are consistently digitising and networking our company in all areas," Hauke Stars, Volkwagen's chief executive for IT, said in a statement.

Volkswagen factories connected to the cloud platform can operate more efficiently, for example by optimising the interaction of complex processes in vehicle assembly, the statement said.

The company, which is undergoing a major overhaul to cut costs, estimates group-wide savings in the tens of millions of euros as a result of these systems in the medium term.