Renault is to accelerate its development and testing of autonomous vehicles under a new joint venture for autonomous vehicle simulation.

The new venture will enable the Renault-Nissan Alliance to further autonomous vehicle development testing.

Formed with Oktal, a subsidiary of Sogeclair, a French aerospace and simulation company based in Toulouse, France, the new venture will enable Renault and the Renault-Nissan Alliance to further autonomous vehicle development testing in a virtual environment, including through the Scaner software driving simulation software already used across Renault and Nissan and co-developed with Oktal.

Groupe Renault will acquire a 35% stake in the new joint venture, Autonomous Vehicle Simulation (AVS), which will acquire the automotive assets of Sogeclair’s Oktal subsidiary.

“This acquisition supports Groupe Renault’s strategy to deliver the vehicle of the future: electric, connected and autonomous. We are very pleased to partner with Oktal to form AVS and thereby support French innovation. This partnership will help us to speed up building our offer of new services and improve our customer experience,” said Gaspar Gascon, executive vice president, product engineering of Groupe Renault.