In a statement, Bosch said the aim was to simplify and speed up the building and deployment of the software throughout the lifecycle of a vehicle and according to quality standards for automobiles.

The platform will be based on Microsoft's cloud software, Azure, and include software modules from the German firm that will make it possible for software to be built and downloaded to control units and computers in vehicles.

The collaboration is expected to cut the cost of development of vehicle software due to the creation of tools that will make development more efficient.

"Bosch already securely updates car software over the air today," said Dr Markus Heyn, a member of the board of management of Robert Bosch.

"With the comprehensive platform for software-defined cars, we want to further empower automakers to develop new functions and get them on the road faster."

"Our collaboration with Bosch brings together the expertise of one of the world's leading automotive suppliers with the power of the Microsoft cloud, AI and GitHub," said Scott Guthrie, executive vice-president, Cloud + AI, Microsoft.

"With software quickly becoming a key differentiator in the automotive industry, our ambition is to help businesses accelerate the delivery of unique mobility services across passenger cars and commercial fleets at scale."

Bosch will provide its expertise as well as software-based products and development tools for cars, including basic software and middleware for vehicle computers and control units, as well as cloud-based software modules to bring over-the-air updates to entire fleets.

"Having a comprehensive software platform from the vehicle to the cloud will reduce the complexity of the software development and the vehicle system integration," said Heyn.

"In this way we will create the conditions for wireless updates to work just as smoothly and conveniently in vehicles as they do in smartphones."