Volkswagen Group of America will be blazing new trails in the self-driving vehicles space with its most recent development.
It has initiated an autonomous vehicle test program in Austin, Texas, using a fleet of 10 all-electric ID Buzz vehicles equipped with technology from partner Mobileye.
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This comes nine months after the shutdown of autonomous vehicle technology startup Argo, which had been testing its technology in Austin.
The shutdown was due to a lack of financial support from Volkswagen and Ford.
Under the new program, Volkswagen Group of America has established a subsidiary called Volkswagen ADMT (autonomous driving, mobility, and transport).
It will operate teams in Belmont, California, and Austin. Volkswagen plans to hire former Argo engineers to work on the project.
The initial focus is on testing the autonomous vehicle technology developed by Mobileye in Austin.
The testing will start with a couple of vehicles in July and expand to all 10 by the end of the year.
The vehicles will be equipped with cameras, lidar, radar, and self-driving software, and will collect data during the testing phase.
A human safety operator will be present in all vehicles during testing.
Volkswagen has announced plans to expand the autonomous vehicle program to at least four more American cities over the next three years.
Furthermore, the company aims to launch commercial operations in Austin by 2026.
However, Volkswagen clarified that it is not currently developing a dedicated ride-hailing service.
Instead, it intends to sell an autonomous vehicle service, comprising self-driving ID Buzz vans and fleet management software, to other companies for deliveries or ride-hailing purposes.
Christian Senger, member of the board of management of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, expressed that expanding the autonomous vehicle program to North America is a significant step in their global strategic roadmap.
The initiative aims to test, validate, and refine the technology, leading to commercially available transportation offerings and a diverse mobility portfolio for the Volkswagen Group.
“Expanding our autonomous vehicle program to the North American Region is the next step in our global strategic roadmap, and the result of a long-term collaborative investment”, said Senger.
“Moving into this next phase will help us test, validate and refine technology, bring us closer to establishing commercially available transportation offerings and eventually grow the diverse mobility portfolio for the Volkswagen Group.”
With this program, Volkswagen re-enters the autonomous vehicle testing space.
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This time, with Mobileye as a partner and a different approach focused on providing autonomous vehicle services to other companies.
By leveraging the ID Buzz vans and their self-driving capabilities, Volkswagen aims to tap into the growing demand for autonomous deliveries and ride-hailing services in the future.
