- volkswagen announced that it plans to have level 4 autonomous id.buzz vans ready for commercial use by 2025; the non-autonomous id.buzz is still scheduled to arrive in 2023.
- vw said that it plans to put the vans in service as a ride-sharing fleet, following the current practice of a vw group subsidiary called moia.
- vw previously announced that it plans to unveil autonomous id.buzz vans in qatar for the world cup in 2022. those vans would run on semi-fixed routes.
volkswagen announced today that it is aiming to have a level 4 autonomous id.buzz—its forthcoming electric minivan—in service for commercial use by 2025. the german automaker said that it is currently conducting field testing in germany using technology developed by argo ai, a self-driving startup both vw and ford have invested in. argo ai’s tech will be used in the id.buzz and rolled out in 2025.
vw said that the commercial use of the id.buzz vans will be similar to that of moia, a mobility company launched in 2016 that's part of the volkswagen group. moia, which has its own moia-specific electric van, is an ride-sharing system operating in two german cities.
level 4 autonomy means that the id.buzz van will be able to operate without human input, but only in specific geographic areas. currently, there aren’t any automakers offering that level of automation, but honda has said that its next generation of the legend sedan will have level 3 autonomy in japan. general motors' cruise started testing level 4 autonomous vehicles in san francisco late last year, and in 2019, waymo expanded the availability of its completely driverless cars to more customers in phoenix.
vw announced late in 2019 that in 2022, it plans to unveil a self-driving id.buzz in qatar for the world cup. the van will be used as a public transit option, running on semi-fixed routes.