Volkswagen Pushes Driver-Assist EVs in China Without Nvidia, CTO Says

Thomas Ulbrich, Chief Technology Officer of Volkswagen Group China, told CNBC’s China-focused coverage that Volkswagen is accelerating its rollout of driver-assist electric vehicles in China while reducing reliance on Nvidia’s chips, favoring local suppliers and in-house options.

Ulbrich’s comments align with reporting that Volkswagen has deepened technical collaboration with Chinese players such as XPeng and is exploring a mix of licensed local ADAS solutions and its own silicon programs. Independent coverage by Caixin and Bloomberg has described Volkswagen’s moves to equip China-market models with locally developed compute solutions and to advance its internal chip efforts.

For markets, the shift can lower geopolitical supply-chain risk and shorten product development cycles in China, enabling faster ADAS feature rollout on region-specific models. Using local chips or licensed software from Chinese partners could also help control costs versus importing high-end AI processors constrained by export rules. Investors and suppliers will watch adoption timing and any immediate effects on vehicle margins and unit economics.

In the broader economic and strategic context, Volkswagen’s approach mirrors a wider industry trend: automakers are moving from off-the-shelf global silicon toward a hybrid model of in-house development and local partnerships to secure technology sovereignty in major markets. This dynamic is intensifying competition among chipmakers, software providers and carmakers in China’s EV ecosystem.

Analysts say near-term benefits depend on the speed and quality of integration with partners such as XPeng, and on Volkswagen’s ability to develop or source robust automotive-grade chips. Key near-term indicators include the timeline for China-specific model launches using local ADAS stacks, updates to VW’s chip roadmap, and market responses in VW and XPeng equity performance.