V-DIG Audit: Audi AG

Audit Phase: V-DIG Date: 2026-05-01 Subject: Audi AG (subsidiary of Volkswagen Group / CARIAD SE)

Enterprise Technology Stack & Vendor Relationships

Israeli-Origin Cybersecurity Vendors

Check Point Software Technologies (Tel Aviv) has been cited in prior research as deployed across the VW Group ecosystem, with a Check Point–SentinelOne joint solution brief ¹ offered as indicative of the integration landscape. That brief confirms a product-level technical partnership between the two vendors but does not name Audi or Volkswagen Group as a customer. No Audi-specific Check Point deployment is confirmed by a primary source in the available evidence base. The claim is assessed as plausible given the scale of VW Group’s enterprise IT estate but remains unverified against Audi-named documentation.

CyberArk (Petah Tikva) maintains an automotive-sector solutions page ² and a vendor integration with Wiz ³, both of which are generic product marketing materials. No Audi-specific CyberArk deployment is confirmed. Claims in prior research relying on an AWS case study documenting CyberArk’s own internal infrastructure are not probative of any Audi relationship and have been discarded.

SentinelOne (Mountain View, CA; R&D in Tel Aviv) and Wiz (New York, founded by Israeli team; Israeli R&D) are similarly unconfirmed for Audi-specific deployments. Prior research cited job listings and generic product pages — neither constitutes a customer confirmation.

Claroty (New York; founded in Israel; incubated by Team8, Israeli R&D) publishes a case study titled “Automaker Boosts Industrial Cybersecurity” ⁴ and a supporting PDF ⁵, describing an OT/ICS security deployment at an anonymised “large automaker” with multiple factory sites. Prior research treats this subject as Audi or VW Group based on scale inference. That inference is not verified — Claroty has not publicly named the customer. Claroty’s founding and leadership lineage includes former Israeli Unit 8200 personnel; this is publicly documented independently of the Audi question. The automotive solutions page ⁶ confirms Claroty’s active targeting of the sector but does not name Audi.

Cybellum (Tel Aviv) — an automotive cybersecurity firm producing software bill-of-materials and vulnerability management tooling — publishes an industry survey in partnership with the Automotive Security Research Group ⁷ and maintains an automotive solutions page ⁸. No Audi-specific Cybellum deployment is confirmed. AVL Software and Functions (an AVL Group subsidiary relevant to Audi’s powertrain development ecosystem) announced a collaboration with PlaxidityX (formerly Argus/Harman cyber) ⁹ in 2024; this confirms Israeli-origin automotive cybersecurity tooling adjacent to Audi’s supply chain but is not an Audi AG primary-source confirmation.

Integrators and Consulting Partners

Capgemini / XL2 Joint Venture: Capgemini and Audi AG formed a joint venture known as XL2, focused on digital transformation across production and logistics ¹⁰. This is the most directly confirmed third-party integrator relationship in the available evidence. Capgemini is listed as a partner on the Upstream Security (Tel Aviv) partner directory ¹¹. Whether the XL2 vehicle has deployed Upstream Security or any other Israeli-origin technology for Audi’s production environment is not documented by a named primary source. The structural pathway — integrator with Israeli vendor partnerships → joint venture with Audi — is confirmed; the downstream deployment is not.

Publicis Sapient: Confirmed as the digital transformation partner behind the “Audi City” retail showroom concept ¹². Publicis Sapient announced a global partnership with Google Cloud in 2024 ¹³, including AI-driven transformation workloads. No evidence that this Google Cloud relationship channels Israeli-specific cloud capacity or Project Nimbus infrastructure to Audi retail environments.

Accenture: Opened a Cybersecurity R&D Lab in Herzliya, Israel in 2016 ¹⁴. Accenture’s role as a broad consulting and IT partner to Audi is generally known but no Audi-specific deployment of Israeli-origin technology via Accenture is documented in the available evidence.

Upstream Security (Tel Aviv): Upstream provides vehicle security operations centre (VSOC) and connected vehicle analytics services and lists Capgemini as a partner ¹¹. News archive materials ¹⁵ confirm Upstream’s ongoing engagement with the automotive OEM ecosystem. Given Capgemini’s confirmed XL2 joint venture with Audi and its listed partnership with Upstream, a potential deployment pathway exists, but no named Audi–Upstream contract is publicly documented.

Surveillance, Biometrics & Retail Technology

No public evidence identified of Audi AG deploying facial recognition, biometric identification, behavioural analytics, gait analysis, or computer vision surveillance tools from Israeli-origin vendors — including Trigo, BriefCam (a Canon subsidiary with Israeli origins), AnyVision/Oosto, or Trax — in any dealership, retail, production, or logistics environment.

Prior research speculated that the Audi City digital showroom environment — delivered via Publicis Sapient ¹² — “could” incorporate Israeli-origin retail analytics tooling. That speculation was explicitly not confirmed by prior research itself and no independent evidence supports it. No public evidence identified.

No public evidence identified of Audi AG deploying Israeli-origin predictive analytics, workforce monitoring, social media surveillance, or sentiment analysis platforms. No deployment of these technologies via third-party integrators (Capgemini/XL2, Publicis Sapient, Accenture) for Audi-branded environments is documented in any source reviewed.

Cloud Infrastructure, Data Residency & Sovereign Cloud Participation

Direct Data Centre Presence in Israel

No public evidence identified that Audi AG directly operates, leases, or co-locates data centre infrastructure within Israel.

Project Nimbus and AWS

Audi AG is not a party to Project Nimbus. Project Nimbus is a government cloud contract between the State of Israel and Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud ¹⁶. AWS launched its Israel (Tel Aviv) Region (il-central-1) in 2023 ¹⁶. Audi is a large AWS customer globally. No evidence has been identified that Audi has specifically provisioned workloads in the il-central-1 AWS region, and Audi’s internal cloud architecture is not disclosed at the regional level in any public filing or press release reviewed.

The structural argument that Audi’s general AWS usage indirectly contributes revenue which flows to AWS as a Nimbus contractor is a financial proximity argument, not evidence of a direct relationship. This distinction is material to the audit finding.

”Winking Mechanism” Disclosure

The Guardian reported in October 2025 that the Project Nimbus government contract contained a provision allowing Google and Amazon to sidestep foreign legal disclosure orders via a coded procedural mechanism ¹⁷. This reporting pertains to the government-facing Nimbus contract specifically, not to general commercial AWS or GCP services used by enterprise customers. No evidence has been identified that Audi’s data assets are subject to this mechanism, or that Audi provides data sovereignty services or infrastructure support to Israeli state institutions in any capacity.

Defence, Intelligence & Security Sector Technology Relationships

Direct Military or Intelligence Contracts

No public evidence identified of a direct contract between Audi AG and the Israeli Ministry of Defence, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli intelligence agencies (Mossad, Shin Bet, Unit 8200), or any Israeli state security body for IT services, cloud infrastructure, analytics platforms, or technology provision of any kind.

Champion Motors — Vehicle Supply to Israeli Security Forces

Champion Motors, a subsidiary of the Allied Group, is the exclusive authorised importer of Audi, Volkswagen, SEAT, and Škoda vehicles into Israel ¹⁸. The Who Profits Research Center documents that Volkswagen Group vehicles supplied through Champion Motors are used in the IDF’s permanent staff vehicle leasing programme and by the Israel Police ¹⁸. Who Profits classifies this as commercial complicity in the Israeli occupation under their research methodology.

The factual core of this finding — that Champion Motors supplies vehicles to the IDF and Israeli Police through a standard commercial importership — is documented ¹⁸ and is the most concrete confirmed link between Audi AG’s commercial activities and Israeli security forces. The relationship is a standard authorised importership; Audi AG does not directly contract with Israeli military or police bodies. Nevertheless, revenues from Audi vehicle sales in Israel flow through this commercial chain to Champion Motors, which in turn supplies those vehicles to security forces.

Volkswagen–Mobileye–Champion Motors Autonomous Ride-Hailing JV

In 2019, Volkswagen Group, Mobileye (Jerusalem), and Champion Motors announced a joint venture to deploy an autonomous electric vehicle ride-hailing service in Israel ¹⁹. The project received formal acceptance from the Israeli government, requiring integration with Israeli municipal and state traffic and transport authorities. The operational status of this JV as of 2025–2026 is not confirmed in available training data — no public announcement of commercial launch or dissolution has been identified.

This JV is structurally significant in that it involves Champion Motors (the Israeli military/police vehicle supplier) as a co-venturer alongside Mobileye (an Intel subsidiary headquartered in Jerusalem) and VW Group, and operates under Israeli government approval with attendant state coordination obligations.

Dual-Use Technology Consideration — Mobileye REM™

Mobileye’s Road Experience Management (REM™) platform — deployed in VW Group and Audi vehicles as part of the broader Mobileye automated driving collaboration ²⁰²¹²² — crowdsources high-definition road geometry and sensor data from equipped vehicles to build and continuously update centrally maintained HD maps ²². Mobileye is headquartered in Jerusalem and is an Intel subsidiary. The dual-use potential of a globally scaled, continuously updated HD mapping dataset generated by civilian vehicle fleets has been noted in policy literature. No confirmed deployment of REM™ data for Israeli military or intelligence applications is documented in the evidence reviewed.

AI, Algorithmic & Autonomous Systems

AI in Production — Edge Cloud for Production

Audi’s “Edge Cloud 4 Production” (EC4P) initiative virtualises robot and assembly-line control onto a private cloud infrastructure at production facilities ²³. The Audi MediaCenter press release from 2023 confirms AI deployment in manufacturing, including quality control vision systems and predictive maintenance ²³. This is an internal initiative; no Israeli-origin AI vendor or Israeli state connection is identified in any source reviewed for this programme.

Mobileye Automated Driving Platform

The most materially significant confirmed AI relationship with Israeli-origin technology is Audi’s participation in the VW Group–Mobileye automated driving collaboration:

• In March 2024, Volkswagen Group announced the intensification of its collaboration with Mobileye for automated driving systems ²⁰, with VW Group vehicles to use Mobileye’s SuperVision™ and Chauffeur™ platforms.
• In March 2025, VW Group announced a further collaboration between Mobileye and Valeo for enhanced driver assistance systems across future MQB platform vehicles ²¹ — the MQB platform underpins a significant share of Audi’s model range.
• Mobileye’s background as an Israeli-founded, Jerusalem-headquartered company, now an Intel subsidiary publicly traded on Nasdaq, is documented ²².
• Mobileye’s REM™ platform collects road geometry data from vehicles equipped with its systems ²²; Audi vehicles within the VW Group fleet contribute to this dataset.

Cognata — Autonomous Vehicle Simulation (Pre-2020)

Audi partnered with Cognata (Rehovot, Israel) in 2018 for autonomous vehicle development simulation, using Cognata’s synthetic data and simulation environment ²⁴. This is confirmed in training data. The partnership predates 2020. No confirmed renewal, continuation, or termination announcement has been identified in available evidence for the period 2020–2026. Status: Unknown — pre-2020 confirmed, current status unverified.

CARIAD / Innoviz — LiDAR AI Perception

CARIAD SE (VW Group’s software and technology unit, under whose umbrella Audi’s software development falls) selected Innoviz Technologies (Rosh HaAyin, Israel) as a direct LiDAR supplier ²⁵²⁶²⁷. The InnovizTwo sensor is the designated product; deliveries were scheduled to begin approximately 2025, with production contracts covering an estimated 5–8 million units over approximately eight years, with a reported contract value of approximately $4 billion ²⁵²⁶. Yole Group confirmed CARIAD as the InnovizTwo customer in separate industry analysis ²⁷. Audi vehicles are among the intended recipients of this LiDAR technology, as CARIAD covers all VW Group brands. LiDAR sensors of this type underpin the AI perception layer for Level 3+ automated driving.

Training Data and Algorithmic Bias

No public evidence identified that Audi’s production AI models, quality-control vision systems, or autonomous driving training datasets incorporate surveillance-derived data from Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories. No evidence of autonomous targeting, fire-control, or kill-chain system development by Audi AG for any military client.

Technology Ecosystem & R&D Footprint

VW Group Innovation Hub Tel Aviv — Konnect

Konnect, the VW Group Innovation Hub in Tel Aviv, was established in 2018 ²⁸. It operates as a Group-level entity (not Audi-brand-specific) with a mandate to scout Israeli startups, run Proof-of-Concept evaluations, and pipeline Israeli technology into VW Group brands. Confirmed Konnect activities include:

• Selection of ADASky (thermal imaging for ADAS, Israeli startup) as winner of the Konnect–VW Commercial Vehicles MaaS Startup Challenge (2022) ²⁹.
• Selection of RightHear (accessible mobility services, Israeli startup) as a Konnect Startup Challenge winner (2022) ³⁰.
• Konnect’s own materials confirm screening of over 40 startups and running Proof-of-Concept projects with VW Group brands ²⁸.

Audi, as a VW Group brand, falls within Konnect’s scope of technology scouting. Which technologies scouted by Konnect have been adopted specifically by Audi brand (versus VW Commercial Vehicles, Porsche, Škoda, or SEAT) is not publicly documented at brand level.

Porsche Ventures — Tel Aviv Office and Israeli Portfolio

Porsche SE (the holding company that controls Volkswagen Group, which owns Audi) operates Porsche Ventures with a dedicated Tel Aviv presence, confirmed as active in 2022 ³¹. Porsche SE’s investment portfolio ³² includes multiple Israeli-origin technology companies:

• TriEye (Tel Aviv — SWIR short-wave infrared sensing for automotive perception) ³²
• Aurora Labs (Tel Aviv — self-healing software for software-defined vehicles) ³²
• Valence Security (Israeli-origin — SaaS application security posture management) ³²

These investments are held by Porsche SE/Porsche Ventures, not by Audi AG directly, but sit within the same corporate family that controls Audi.

Valens Semiconductor — Connectivity Chipsets

Valens Semiconductor (Hod Hasharon, Israel) announced three automotive design wins with “leading European OEMs” for its VA7000 MIPI A-PHY in-vehicle connectivity chipsets, targeting production start in 2026 ³³. Prior research notes that Dr. Peter Mertens (former Audi CTO, departed Audi 2013) held a board seat at Valens ¹⁵, confirmed via IVC-Online data. This creates a personnel link between Valens and Audi’s former executive leadership. Valens’ press release does not name any OEM customer. The “leading European OEMs” language is consistent with VW Group/Audi participation but is not confirmed by name. Whether Mertens’ board role continues as of 2025–2026 is unconfirmed.

R&D Partnerships — Academic and Research Institutions

No public evidence identified of significant patent co-development or formal research collaboration between Audi AG and Israeli academic or research institutions (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, or Weizmann Institute of Science).

Ecosystem Summary

The confirmed Israeli-origin technology footprint touching Audi AG spans: (a) the CARIAD–Innoviz LiDAR supply contract (most financially material; confirmed ²⁵²⁶²⁷); (b) the VW Group–Mobileye automated driving platform adoption (most technically pervasive; confirmed ²⁰²¹²²); (c) Konnect innovation hub technology scouting (Group-level, confirmed ²⁸²⁹³⁰); (d) Porsche Ventures Israeli portfolio (holding company level, confirmed ³¹³²); and (e) the pre-2020 Audi–Cognata simulation partnership (status unknown ²⁴).

Civil Society Scrutiny & Regulatory History

NGO Reporting

Who Profits Research Center maintains an active database entry covering Volkswagen Group — including Audi as a subsidiary ¹⁸. Their documented findings include:

• Champion Motors’ supply of VW Group vehicles (including Audi-branded vehicles) to the IDF permanent staff leasing programme and the Israel Police ¹⁸.
• The Volkswagen–Mobileye–Champion Motors autonomous ride-hailing joint venture in Israel and its governmental approval ¹⁸.
• Konnect Innovation Hub activities as part of VW Group’s commercial engagement with the Israeli technology sector ¹⁸.

Who Profits characterises these as forms of commercial involvement in the Israeli occupation. The factual elements of their findings — the importership structure, the JV announcement, the Konnect hub — are independently corroborated by primary sources ¹⁹²⁸. The normative characterisation (as “complicity”) reflects Who Profits’ analytical framework and is theirs alone.

No specific UN Special Rapporteur reports, Human Rights Watch investigations, or Amnesty International publications focused narrowly on Audi AG’s technology relationships with Israeli state entities were identified in available evidence.

Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Activity

No public evidence identified of a formally organised BDS campaign specifically targeting Audi AG (as distinct from Volkswagen Group broadly) citing its Israeli technology relationships. Volkswagen Group has appeared in broader BDS-adjacent discussions referencing Champion Motors’ IDF/Police supply relationship ¹⁸ and the Mobileye JV ¹⁹, but no Audi-brand-specific organised campaign has been confirmed in training data.

Regulatory and Legal History

No public evidence identified of:

• Regulatory inquiries or investigations by any national competition, data protection, or export control authority targeting Audi AG’s technology relationships with Israeli entities.
• Export control or sanctions compliance actions involving Audi AG’s sale or provision of technology, software, or services to Israeli state bodies.
• Legal proceedings in any jurisdiction arising from Audi’s commercial relationships described in this audit.

The Project Nimbus disclosure reported by The Guardian ¹⁷ concerns the conduct of Google and Amazon as Nimbus contractors, not Audi. No regulatory action arising from that reporting implicates Audi.

End Notes