Some of the first sightings of Volkswagen ID.Buzz electric van in the US will be right around Tesla’s facility in Austin, Texas.
Starting this month, VW will send 10 ID.Buzz electric vans there as part of a test program for the platform developed by the VW Group with Mobileye.
Those sightings would be some kind of unicorn, as they would be a standard length version of ID.Buzz VW Decides Americans Don’t Want—with longer US versions coming out late next year.
VW ID.Buzz self-driving test car in Austin
Project Austin is the next step for the company’s self-driving car programs, as the company continues to grow after Argo.AI, an autonomous startup with bold claims that has raised $1 billion la funding from VW and Ford a few years ago, then closed. down last October.
According to VW, the project combines members from Argo AI and it is now under a subsidiary called Volkswagen ADMT.
These early vehicles test SAE Level 4 autopilot capability, meaning these vehicles are expected to perform most of the driving functions but the driver will be willing to take over. According to the company, the VW/Mobileye platform includes cameras, radar and lidar technology.
In three years, VW says it plans to expand its test fleet in Austin and bring it to at least four more US cities — and it says Austin will see the commercial launch of the new vehicles. autonomous vehicles by 2026. That may be a hard sell for some cities, however, based on growing insecurity in cities that have become laboratories for such technology, including San Francisco.
VW ID.Buzz self-driving test car in Austin
Volkswagen has said that it Next-gen EV coming later this decade will pioneer a new business model that includes autonomous driving. It hopes to make such features “widespread” by 2030. Called Project Trinity within VW, the flagship project could lead to the brand’s first vehicle to achieve Level 4 in public use—as far as regulations permit, of course.
