Stellantis acquires startup's AI tech for in-vehicle software platform

Stellantis NV has acquired artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, intellectual property rights and patents from U.K.-based CloudMade to enhance its in-vehicle experience.

Details of the asset deal weren't shared. Stellantis also will bring on 44 of CloudMade's AI engineers and software developers. The transaction will support the mid-term development of the STLA SmartCockpit platform, which will begin to launch on vehicles this year. The automaker expects by 2030 to generate almost $22 billion (20 billion euro) in annual revenue from software and subscriptions.

CloudMade's AI-powered framework is the industry-leading cloud and software development kit for collecting an analyzing automotive data sets that has contributed to the advancements in user experiences over the past decade, according to a Stellantis news release.

The technology is expected to contribute to predictive vehicle maintenance and diagnostics, personalized preferences from climate control to driving coaching, Stellantis-specific voice assistant, advanced navigation, and fleet management. Bringing the training models in-house also reduces data privacy risks, according to the automaker.

"We will create intelligent mobility solutions faster and with more flexibility," Yves Bonnefont, Stellantis' chief software officer, said in a statement, "to delight our customers with in-vehicle and mobile experience personalization."