We often hear about supercomputers and how much they save time by processing billions of calculations much faster than a regular computer would. What few people know is that supercomputers are already outdated: quantum computing is the new Holy Grail of computers. Volkswagen knows that and made a partnership with Xanadu to benefit from what the company achieved so far in that field.
The German carmaker wants Xanadu to help it develop new materials for lithium-ion cells. The goals are clear: batteries have to be lighter, safer, cheaper, and more energy-dense than they currently are. To get there, it is necessary to evaluate new materials as quickly as possible, which is much easier to do with computer simulations. Xanadu develops quantum algorithms that may fit like a glove in these ambitions.
Instead of a regular bit, quantum computing deals with quantum bits, also known as qubits. Unlike bits, they can present two different states involving quantum superposition. In other words, states that are apparently opposed to each other. Just remember that Schödinger’s cat could be dead or alive, and you will get the point.
Xanadu is developing photonic chips, which use photons to perform their calculations. The company’s primary target is to create a computer able to achieve 1 million qubits. If it succeeds, Volkswagen will probably be one of the company’s main customers. While that does not happen, the German carmaker is using Xanadu’s expertise in the ways that are currently possible.
The first study they made together was published by the Physical Review A, a journal from the American Physical Society. Using a “realistic cathode material, dilithium iron silicate,” Xanadu and Volkswagen were more interested in how quantum computing could help analyze it than in the material itself. At this point, it makes perfect sense: it is more important to make sure the tool works than to develop something with it and fail.
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