Volkswagen and Mercedes are distancing themselves from Google

Google has become a must on smartphones and would arrive at the same position in the automobile. But this desire is not to everyone’s taste automakers.

The question today concerns the automakers. How can they offer services online, while maintaining control of revenue, value and vehicle information? Because these services often come from third parties including Google. Take for example the case of Google Maps, which can be used on some vehicles with Mirror Link system. With such a device, the manufacturer of the car delegates first delivery to a third party, he has no control over the quality of service (Google Maps is also a poor guide system drive) and it leaves confidential data to escape the vehicle (usually use paths …).

Volkswagen and Mercedes start to leap on this and calling on other manufacturers to set up separate platforms to avoid these risks.
In the Automotive News columns, Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen Group warns face a “potential conflict around the distribution of the available data.”
Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Mercedes-Benz, said for his part that the activity of Google is to “support users throughout the day, to generate data and then use them for economic purposes.” According to him, an automobile brand also has an interest in developing its own software platform, to avoid becoming dependent on a third party.

The last two bosses are distancing themselves from the work of Google on the autonomous car including his latest creation, a small vehicle without orders. A very vision away from the traditional car that emphasizes comfort and driving pleasure.