Autonomous driving – the future of mobility
Autonomous ridepooling: working together to improve urban mobility
The Volkswagen Group wants to shape the mobility of the future: We are convinced of the potential of autonomous driving to improve the driving experience for everyone, to increase road safety and to save resources. The Volkswagen Group is increasingly evolving from a traditional vehicle manufacturer to an integrated mobility provider. With the MOIA carpooling service, we already offer a well-known “Mobility-as-a-Service” service in Hamburg and Hanover. By the middle of the decade, we want to put the first driverless vehicles on the road. Safety is our top priority and takes precedence over everything else.
As soon as our vehicles drive autonomously, there will be a wide range of opportunities through ridepooling. But what does that mean? Ridepooling is a dynamic and demand-driven mobility concept in which several passengers share a vehicle to cover the same or similar distance. Autonomous operation allows us to expand our offering quickly and efficiently compared to driver-based services to serve a larger and ever-growing number of customers. And that's where our ID. Buzz comes in – an excellent vehicle size for this type of service. After all, it is spacious enough to transport not only passengers, but also parcels comfortably and efficiently – for example, for smart transport solutions (Transportation-as-a-Service).
Advantages for urban mobility
Less traffic and emissions for a better quality of life: We are firmly convinced that the use of autonomous driving in ridepooling has a significant social benefit. Cities around the world are longing for more efficient and climate-friendly transport, and we believe that ridepooling solutions can play a crucial role in this. As a pioneer in this field, MOIA is already making an important contribution to this and shows how ridepooling can optimize urban traffic.
Our goal is not only to improve urban mobility and reduce inner-city traffic through autonomous ridepooling, but also to increase safety on the roads and the quality of life in cities at the same time. In addition, such offers enable people who were previously dependent on other means of transport to make their mobility independent and flexible. In this way, autonomous ridepooling can also contribute to an inclusive society.
Our approach as a provider of autonomous driving
At the Volkswagen Group, we consistently focus on innovation and are actively shaping the future of autonomous vehicle technology. Our goal is to take advantage of autonomous driving while ensuring high safety standards. Here you will get an insight into how we, as a provider of autonomous driving, are proceeding to successfully implement this forward-looking technology.
For the autonomously driving ID. Buzz, we are relying on technology from the ID. family, one of the most popular electric vehicle series in Europe. This tried and tested technology forms a stable basis for reliable operation and enables easy maintenance of our vehicle fleet, which will be in continuous use.
In order to make even better use of the potential of autonomous driving, we are collaborating with a development partner that is offering a highly scalable approach to technology and is already achieving impressive driving performances.
Since 2019, the Volkswagen Group subsidiary MOIA has been offering its ridepooling service in Hamburg and Hanover and has established itself as a reliable and innovative mobility service. More than 7.5 million passengers have already benefited from MOIA's services. Thanks to this early investment in driver-based ridepooling, the Volkswagen Group is in a perfect position for the further development of this type of mobility service, thus creating an optimal test basis for autonomous driving. MOIA's offer is already very popular, as the app's excellent reviews noticeably show.
Insights for the future: Test driving under real conditions
Whether on the test track or in a wide variety of traffic situations, we have been subjecting our autonomous ID. Buzz prototypes to intensive testing for three years. But that's not all: This year, we will also be actively present in our future areas of application within commercial vehicle use. For the first time, we invite media representatives and decision-makers to experience the innovative technology of autonomous driving up close. And in the coming year, the focus of our work will be on the promotion of test customers. They will then be able to book their journeys conveniently via app – as is already the case with MOIA today.
Tests and their results are more than just numbers and data: they are a key success factor in the development of automated vehicles – especially when tours are undertaken under real conditions. They provide us with unique insights into the safety issues, capabilities and acceptance of autonomous driving. These insights enable us to make informed decisions to continuously improve technology and shape the future of mobility.
Reality is the ultimate touchstone in the development of automated vehicles
We check drivers and technology
It is necessary to operate the technology under safe conditions and in a planned area of operation. This enables us to gain valuable experience with automated vehicles on public roads and to prepare them reliably and safely for the specific requirements of public transport.
Our strategy is to maintain test operations with automated vehicles manned with safety drivers until the safety and reliability of autonomous driving are proven. The safety drivers always bear full responsibility for the vehicle. This is designed in such a way that safety drivers can master it at any time. All safety drivers are carefully trained and tested by us. In addition, we analyze and verify the technology used before use to ensure that it is error-free and usable for the safety drivers to avert possible risks.
Protection of your data: Video recordings during test drives
For (further) development, testing and safeguarding of autonomous mobility offers, vehicle systems and other services, the test vehicles are equipped with cameras. During operation, video recordings of other road users such as vehicles and persons are made, license plates and lettering on vehicles, shops or street signs are recorded, and other information in the immediate vicinity of the test vehicles is recorded. For more information on video data recording during test drives, please visit our privacy page.
