#VW Teams Up With LG To Create "Connected" Cars [Auto Styling News]

Today's marriages of tech companies and car companies continues, and is likely to give birth to amazing technological advances in the next decade.

The Volkswagen Group and LG Electronics are the latest to team up. Earlier this month in Wolfsburg, Germany, both signed a memorandum of understanding on the joint research and development of a next-generation connected car service platform.

The two companies have pledged to work together on Volkswagen's Cross-Over-Platform, which is aimed at enhanced vehicle connectivity and convenience. Using the latest in cloud technology, it will offer drivers seamless digital access to extensive features such as smart home and location-based services.

Vehicles like the VW zero-emission BUDD-e electric van concept (at left) imagined as a 2019 vehicle, will likely benefit from this alliance.

Another beneficiary will be concepts like the GEA, unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2015. It was already a collaboration between LG Electronics and VW, having seven key components supplied by LG, including the holographic display, connected smart watch, tail lights and rear camera. In July, LG was selected as Volkswagen's strategic electronics supplier and also listed as a partner company on its FAST (Future Automotive Supply Tracks) program. At CES earlier this year, the two companies attracted great attention showcasing a smart home system that could be controlled remotely from the vehicle.

Over the coming years, the two companies say they will be concentrating on:
• Developing technologies that bring together the connected car and the smart home
   so that drivers are able to control and monitor smart devices in their homes —
   such as lights, security systems and domestic appliances — from out on the road.
• Developing a context-sensitive notification center that can deliver messages in an
   intuitive and safe manner and provide optimized recommendations to the driver in
   real time.
• Developing next-generation infotainment technology for connected cars.

LG was one of the first electronics companies to commit itself to the automotive industry. It has been supplying audio-visual products for vehicles since 2007, establishing a reputation for reliability and technological innovation.