Why are Google and 'VW group' having a 'global summit' in San Francisco today?

A friend of The Reg today spotted something rather interesting in downtown San Francisco: an empty van bearing a sign reading “Google VW Group Summit.” We're pretty sure “VW Group” is the automobile manufacturer Volkswagen and that Google, despite the off-brand sign, is the Alphabet subsidiary dedicated to advertising, web …

[frank ly]

Curiouser and curiouser

The van is not empty; a masked man is sitting in it. How did you not notice that? This is becoming sinister.

[Charles Manning]

Or...

The founder of VW (that little bloke with a bad temper) and the founder of Google are swapping notes on how to control the populace.

[werdsmith]

Re: Or...

You mean British Army Major Ivan Hirst? Never reputed to be an irascible chap as far as I'm aware.

[Captain DaFt]

Cool

So, if I print off a sign that says "Maserati Microsoft Group Summit", and drive around with it displayed in my van window, I can get headlined too?

[Anonymous Coward]

All sewn up (by Google)

I Googled it. Did you know that in November 2014 (that's right, nearly a year ago) the CEOs of Daimler and VW Group said that they "aren't afraid of a Google car"? That's obviously because the conspiracy was already signed, sealed and being delivered. After all, it's in Google and on the Internet, it must be true.

[Christian Berger]

Probably Android for Cars

German car manufacturers are notoriously conservative (though they think they are incredibly innovative). A car computer running Android just seems innovative as they can get. Plus Volkswagen probably has to few good engineers left to realize that putting Android onto the your car computer is a terrible idea from a technical and security point of view.

[naive]

Re: Probably Android for Cars

> German car manufacturers are notoriously conservative (though they think they are incredibly innovative).

LOL, every engineer whose products still run after 25 of more years in areas from the arctic to the desert, is conservative. Everything which is not proven will either break or kill people within the wide range of usage patterns passengers cars have.

[werdsmith]

Re: Probably Android for Cars

>LOL, every engineer whose products still run after 25 of more years in areas from the arctic to the desert, is conservative

Maybe so, but this is about Volkswagens.

[Drudgery Leak]

Re: Probably Android for Cars

Android in your infotainment system makes perfect sense. This is quite separate from other more safety-critical systems.

[/dev/null]

Re: Probably Android for Cars

But infotainment system aren't quite separate. They have to talk over CANbus, just like the safety-critical systems.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Probably Android for Cars

Umm, no, they really don't *have* to talk over CAN bus, they just chose to make them that way.

[Kevin McMurtrie]

FR3E CaNDY

Kidnapper van for nerds?

[Anonymous Coward]

Google is gonna buy HERE Maps

because the 3D, turn by turn is really rather good, and having it on a 6" phone means you can toss the GPS because you have offline maps also.

[Hawkeye Pierce]

Re: Google is gonna buy HERE Maps

Ummm, except VW weren't in the consortium of German car manufacturers that bought HERE just a few months ago to the best of my knowledge - which perhaps adds credence to the suggestion that the meeting is about getting Android, or more specifically mapping technology from Google, into VW cars to compete.

[grumpyoldeyore]

except VW weren't in the consortium

Audi - part of the "Volkswagen Group" - were though.....

[ISYS]

Fake

Not the correct Google typeface ;-)

[IHateWearingATie]

LIZARDS!

Calling David Ike

[Anonymous Coward]

It's about the next transport frontier to be conquered

Self-walking people - and that's a tough market in the USA

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: It's about the next transport frontier to be conquered

It'll be fine - as long as they don't chew gum at the same time...

[kevin king]

Interesting who is part of the FAST. (Future Automotive Supply Tracks) is intended to help Volkswagen and it suppliers adapt to the “challenges” currently facing the industry. In particular, it’s intended to help speed up the implementation of technical innovations. No mention of google :-) http://cleantechnica.com/2015/08/03/volkswagen-choses-lg-electronics-high-voltage-battery-supplier-fast-initiative/

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe VW are trying to actually obtain some clue on security

After the immobiliser fiasco - http://arstechnica.co.uk/security/2015/08/researchers-reveal-electronic-car-lock-hack-after-2-year-injunction-by-volkswagen/

[ChubbyBehemoth]

In the van?

I see at least one bloke in it? Are the rest of the summit in the back with a bong? In any case the bloke doing the design needs to get neutered for using the wrong logo. Now that is really unforgivable. Unless,.. this picture was taken some weeks ago.. Hmm,.. plot thickens. A van instead of a deLorean?

[Nebra]

Outdated

bogus - its the old google logo.

[Mark 85]

If it were a black van, it would probably be something nefarious. If it's white... ask the drive if he has any candy. If it were paisley, take a deep breath and see if it's something from the 60's.

Wait a minute... it can't be a Google van... there's a driver sitting in it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Boring investigative detail

Sorry, I can't come up with anything amusing about Illuminati and the Lizards, but a straight observation: the guy is a cab/hire car driver, and he's made up his own laminated sign for the purpose of meeting summit delegates at $TRANSPORT_TERMINUS, e.g. as seen at every city airport arrival point.

Is the non-face black strip blocking identifying information on the rear-view mirror of the car, or of location information in the background? I haven't got time to sit with Streetview(TM) to search for instances of that part-logo on the shop-front...

[Dieter Haussmann]

Chrome exhaust embelishment