Stellantis has completed the acquisition of aiMotive, one of the world’s largest independent automotive technology powerhouses working on level-agnostic automated driving solutions.
The announcement a month after initial news about the accession of the Hungarian company. Stellantis Chief Software Officer Yves Bonnefont said that the purchase of aiMotive will accelerate Stellantis' journey to become a sustainable mobility tech company and deliver the goals of its Dare Forward 2030 strategy.
"Thanks to aiMotive's world-class expertise, we will enhance our artificial intelligence and autonomous driving core technology, expand our global talent pool, and foster the mid-term development of our all-new STLA AutoDrive platform," Bonnefont added.
With this acquisition, aiMotive will maintain its operational independence and will operate as a subsidiary of Stellantis. László Kishonti, founder of aiMotive, will remain its CEO.
"In 2015, I founded a company that would develop technologies to shape the future of mobility for everyone," said Kishonti. "I'm delighted that seven years later we can contribute to Stellantis' ambition and work together to make millions of customers’ cars better, safer and more intelligent."
That said, Stellantis is poised to establish a Board of Directors to oversee aiMotive, preserving its startup mindset of rapid innovation and autonomy in developing artificial intelligence and autonomous driving software.
There are three products under aiMotive's portfolio: aiData, aiWare, and aiSim. These technology solutions will still be operated by the company and delivered to third-party customers. A fourth product will join aiMotive's portfolio. It's called aiDrive – an integrated software for autonomous driving.
The innovations of aiMotive will be incorporated into the three Stellantis technology platforms currently under development: STLA Brain, STLA SmartCockpit and STLA AutoDrive. This will be implemented in 2024 in the new vehicle architectures (STLA Small, Medium, Large and Frame) which should greatly affect Stellantis' digitization strategy.
Earlier this year, Stellantis announced its Dare Forward 2030 goals. The plan is to have 100 percent of vehicle sales in Europe to be battery-electric by 2030. In the United States, the target is 50 percent.
Stellantis has set a goal of being carbon net zero by 2038, with a 50-percent benchmark established for 2030.
