Volkswagen has announced it is partnering with Microsoft to use Azure to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles.

The majority of automakers are working on autonomous driving as the next major evolution of the auto industry. Various automakers are taking different approaches, with Volkswagen indicating it wants to develop its autonomous software in-house.

To aid in that goal, Volkswagen’s software company, Car.Software Organisation, will work with Microsoft to use Azure to help build a cloud-based Automated Driving Platform (ADP). Running ADP on Azure will allow Volkswagen to develop the platform faster and scale it globally.

“As we transform Volkswagen Group into a digital mobility provider, we are looking to continuously increase the efficiency of our software development. We are building the Automated Driving Platform with Microsoft to simplify our developers’ work through one scalable and data-based engineering environment. By combining our comprehensive expertise in the development of connected driving solutions with Microsoft’s cloud and software engineering know-how, we will accelerate the delivery of safe and comfortable mobility services,” said Dirk Hilgenberg, CEO of the Car.Software Organisation.

“This is the next evolution of our foundational work with the Volkswagen Group to enhance their transformation as a software-driven mobility provider,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Cloud + AI at Microsoft. “The power of Microsoft Azure and its compute, data and AI capabilities will enable Volkswagen to deliver secure and reliable automated driving solutions to their customers faster.”

Snagging the world’s largest automaker, the Volkswagen Group, is a big win for Microsoft, especially in the wake of Ford’s decision to use Google Cloud for its connected vehicle efforts. Ford had long been a Microsoft partner, relying on the tech company’s software for its vehicles’ navigation and entertainment systems.