Renault and Nissan have found the perfect cloud to power their self-driving car alliance: Microsoft Azure Cloud.
Under a new partnership, the Renault-Nissan Alliance will tap Microsoft's cloud expertise to power up connected cars. In a joint statement on Monday, the companies note that they will use Microsoft Azure Cloud for the automakers' navigation and software, remote monitoring and predictive maintenance services.
The deal is global and for multiple years, focusing on next-generation technologies and taking connected driving to the next level. Nissan, Renault and Microsoft will collaborate to develop connected services for vehicles powered by Azure, aiming to enhance customer experience by delivering vehicle-centric services, advanced navigation, over-the-air (OTA) updates, predictive maintenance and more.
Ogi Redzic, senior vice president of the Connected Vehicles and Mobility Services for the Renault-Nissan Alliance, points out that cars are becoming increasingly intelligent, connected and personal, and this new venture will speed things up.
"Partnering with Microsoft allows us to accelerate the development of the associated key technologies needed to enable scenarios our customers want and build all-new ones they haven't even imagined," says Redzic. "We aim to become the provider of connected mobility for everyone with one single global platform."
The Renault-Nissan Alliance is working on making autonomous driving and connectivity features mainstream, pushing them to vehicles that wouldn't break the bank. The automakers hope to accelerate the development of connectivity features and technologies to push them in more than 10 self-driving vehicles by 2020.
Microsoft Azure cloud services will deliver "unlimited scale," enabling the Alliance to offer global services for its wide customer pool. According to official statements, the Alliance chose Microsoft Azure partly due to the enterprise-level security it offers, as well as Microsoft's "rigorous commitment to compliance."
Moreover, Microsoft Azure plays nice with several operating systems, tools and programming language, which allows for flexibility and options to develop a common platform so that services could benefit both Nissan and Renault connected vehicles.
Renault and Nissan are just the latest to tap Microsoft's cloud expertise, but they're hardly the only automakers to do so. Volvo, BMW and Toyota are other carmakers that are using Microsoft Azure for various applications, and the list is expected to grow in the future.
At the same time, Microsoft is not the only player that wants a piece of the autonomous driving pie. As the race is heating up on the self-driving car scene, both Microsoft and Amazon are looking to play a bigger role by offering their cloud computing services. The new deal marks a major win for Microsoft.
