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Transportation EU Power

Volkswagen's Autonomous 'ID Buzz' Robotaxi Is Ready, And Cities And Companies Can Buy Them Soon (jalopnik.com) 60

Posted by EditorDavid from the creating-a-buzz dept.
The classic VW bus got an all-electric update — but that was just the beginning. Now there's an autonomous driving version (that's intended for commercial fleets, reports Jalopnik, "a level 4 vehicle that drives set routes" that's "going into full production" as the ID Buzz AD. (The AD stands for "autonomous driving") The AD version sports a longer wheelbase and a higher roofline than its mere human-driven sibling, which helps it to fit in the 13 cameras, nine LiDARs, and five radars that will (hopefully) allow the car to drive without crashing into anybody. These are intended for large-fleet customers providing taxi services, either ones run by local governments or private companies. [Volkswagen Group software subsidiary MOIA] has already lined up its first customer, the German city of Hamburg, which will provide the automated Buzz as a public transit option alongside traditional bus and subway services. If all goes well, after Hamburg MOIA "will bring sustainable, autonomous mobility to large-scale deployment in Europe and the U.S.," according to VW Group CEO Oliver Blume. Down the road, VW has also signed an agreement for rideshare juggernaut Uber to use the ID Buzz AD across America, starting with Los Angeles in 2026.

The ID Buzz AD is the first vehicle in Germany to reach SAE International's threshold for Level 4 autonomous driving, meaning that the car can drive itself, with no need for a driver behind the wheel, within designated areas.
It comes with "a full suite of tools for public and private transit providers," notes the EV news site Electrek. "That includes everything from the self-driving tech to fleet management software, passenger support, and operator training. That will allow cities and companies to launch driverless fleets quickly, safely, and at scale."

And Christian Senger, a member of the board of management of VW Commercial Vehicles, tells DW the vans will be manufactured in very large numbers. The Hannover VW factory is set to produce more than 10,000 commercial vehicles. "We believe we can be the leading supplier in Europe," Senger says.... [Senger] does not expect the top dog of Germany's beleaguered auto industry to make any money, at least at first. In the long term, though, he explains that autonomous driving is the lucrative field of the future, one that promises to be much more profitable than the traditional automotive industry...

The exact price has not yet been announced but the ID. Buzz AD is unlikely to come cheap. According to Senger, buyers will have to pay a low six-figure sum (in euros) per vehicle. That means it's going to be expensive for transport companies. The Association of German Transport Companies or VDV, is calling for a nationally coordinated strategy of long-term financing, and a market launch supported by public funding, to establish the country's supremacy in this market.

Volkswagen's Autonomous 'ID Buzz' Robotaxi Is Ready, And Cities And Companies Can Buy Them Soon More | Reply

Volkswagen's Autonomous 'ID Buzz' Robotaxi Is Ready, And Cities And Companies Can Buy Them Soon

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  • People first.
    I should be able to buy a self-driving car and schedule it to do taxi duties on Uber/Lyft when I don't need it.
    This is no need to involve government incompetence or corporate greediness.

    • "This is no need to involve government incompetence"

      So governments have nothing to do with road regulations then?

    • People first.

      People don't buy cars with geofenced set routes. This would be useless to the common person.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by N1AK ( 864906 )
      No one's going to rent your car directly so there would still be at least one corporate in your scenario (the platform). The government in this case is referring to things like public transportation providers, for example bus style transportation, which is already commonly run by governments in much of Europe.

      Your scenario just doesn't make sense so apparently consumer ignorance is at least as much a risk to a solution as anything about governments or companies. The times you're likely to reserve your ca

    • You have to register as a company before you are allowed to offer taxi services. It's illegal for individuals to provide taxi services. This is to protect customers from malicious taxi services which are unregulated, unsafe, extremely expensive, etc.

      • This is to protect customers from malicious taxi services which are unregulated, unsafe, extremely expensive, etc.

        This is to protect malicious taxi services' market share and the kickbacks to their pet regulator.

    • I suppose you have very deep pockets then, because even if you are not found liable for a wreck, you should be able to withstand the lawyer fees until the judges reach a fnal and binding decision. Alternatively, you will need to persuade an insurance that this business will be profitable for them, too, so that they can sell you a policy, which will not be cheap. You may get someone to care about your priorities ("people first"), your entitlement ("I should be able to"), and what you think is necessary ("no

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      People first. I should be able to buy a self-driving car and schedule it to do taxi duties on Uber/Lyft when I don't need it. This is no need to involve government incompetence or corporate greediness.

      Because when it doesn't work properly or has a limited service area you'll sue and demand the full purchase price back... or your family will sue for even more when you decided not to monitor your "self" driving car after you got drunk and told it to take you home whilst you had a snooze or fucked around on your phone.

      This is bog standard liability limitation, not a government conspiracy.

    • When you grow up, kid, you'll learn that's what a wife is for....

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by spitzak ( 4019 )

      This is a nonsense fantasy idea from Musk. The taxi fleets are NOT going to be individually privately-owned vehicles.

      The obvious reason is that destruction of a car is pretty devastating to a private owner. However it is just a line-item to a company that owns a fleet of them.

      Robotaxis will also be able to store themselves in very dense parking garages if they become reliable enough that we don't need humans to be able to get into them while stored. This will not work however if there is some requirement to

  • So instead of having 50-70 people in a single bus or 1000 in a metro train they'll have 1-4 people in a large van sized vehicle. How exactly is that sustainable? This is just more greenwash BS from a company that really should know better by now.

    • Buses and trains do not go everywhere and do not work well in all cases, even when they do go there. Public transit is usually a hub and spoke system, which does not work well if you need to go from one outlier to another nearby outlier. Public transit usually goes to the airport terminal, but not to the technical area, or cargo terminal, for example and walking around an airport will take a whole day.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Viol8 ( 599362 )

        Very unlikely this is going to be go-anywhere like a real taxi. It will almost certainly be geofenced and limited to certain roads where it can't get stuck. European streets are often much narrower than US ones and its quite possible for a 2 way street to only have room for a single vehicle at a time with bad parking.

        • It doesn't need to. It just needs to not be the size of a bus. It may come as a shock to you but filling the road with massive vehicles that can carry 70+ people at a time doesn't suit every situation. This isn't a replacement for mass transport. If that is your complaint then you've fundamentally missed the point.

          I can already see a great use case for these: N-lines in Vienna, where after about 1am you go to a bus stop, call a number and a small minivan comes and drops you at a chosen spot along a busroute

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by spitzak ( 4019 )

            As you point out, they are already using minivans when there are few passengers.

            However the enormous expense of the human driver is removed if it is self-driving, that is the big difference, even compared to a minivan.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by spitzak ( 4019 )

        Cities build transit in rings around the city nowadays. See Paris and London, and many others.

        I do believe self-driving taxis will be extremely useful to deliver people from/to the train station, and will be very good addition to public transit. It is possible it will lead to the transit stations being further apart and much greater speed between stations, I'm not sure if that is a win or not.

    • Yes, because they intend to replace buses and metros with this... *rolleyes* It's more sustainable than people owning their own ICE cars, or renting them, for occasional travel where normal public transit isn't workable. Or for companies to shuttle a small number of employees or guests around town or corporate campus. More sustainable than other autonomous vehicles that only take 2 passengers (Tesla, Waymo). There are use cases for less than 50 seats, and we don't need fuel-burning private vehicles for th

      • It's more sustainable than people owning their own ICE cars

        Cars are a MASSIVE status symbol. If they weren't, people wouldn't have started buying trucks to drive Poppy and Tarquin to school in London. Or owning "luxury" brands which have the twin benefits of being both expensive and somewhat unreliable.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          Yep, essentially people compensating for gross inadequacies that money cannot fix. Like being dumb assholes.

          • Yep, essentially people compensating for gross inadequacies that money cannot fix. Like being dumb assholes.

            I'm not saying everyone who drives a pickup truck in London is a dumb asshole, just 99.95% of them. I met the one who wasn't: local garden centre deliveries. They deliver bags of manure among other things. No need to keep the rain off so a van is at a disadvantage. A ute would be better but they just don't exist here anyway.

            Almost everyone else is a massive twat.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by spitzak ( 4019 )

              The average person will be able to rent a self-driving pickup when/if they need it. This completely removes their pathetic excuse to buy monstrosities that are only used to commute to work.

              The gardener will most likely own their vehicle as they use it 100% of the time (even when sitting there holding their equipment, it is being used). There may have to be special licenses so that the private vehicle can be operated on public roads, and it will be self-driving as well.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by spitzak ( 4019 )

          It should not be hard to set up luxury status-symbol self-driving taxi service. People will be in awe as you arrive in the self-driving Rolls which costs ten times what the Teslas that all the plebes ride in.

          • It's probably as simple as making it ten times more expensive than competitors' services - perhaps with explicit wording that it's 'premium' but with no tangible improvements.

    • Around my area, after about 6pm there are big buses running every 30 mins until after midnight which have 0-1 passengers on board. It'd be cheaper to send one of these new vehicles straight to the stop where someone might actually be waiting and drop them at their house.

      • actually, running them on bus routes at bus prices might be a practical options.

        Run a half dozen of these at five minute intervals rather than a bus every half hour and mass transit suddenly becomes more practical and attractive.

        One key question is how many you can run for the cost of one bus.

        The long intervals are a major factor in making bus travel practical in all but the densest cities in the US.

        So is the inability to automatically electrocute disruptive morons, but that's for another topic.

    • Isn't it a robo-TAXI, not a robo-mass-transit-something?

      Presumably it will soon be allowed to go anywhere like a normal taxi instead of following a fixed route like a bus.

    • A bus or train greatly increases commute time due to having to walk or switch buses. Not to mention the viruses and disease vector. That is wasted time, and comes at a price for the economy. So no thanks.

  • "promises to be much more profitable" (Score:3)

    by zephvark ( 1812804 ) on Monday June 23, 2025 @07:39AM (#65469393)

    "In the long term, though, he explains that autonomous driving is the lucrative field of the future, one that promises to be much more profitable than the traditional automotive industry..."

    So, is this telling us that these cars will be significantly overpriced? Or is it that they'll break down more frequently?

    • The claim is that they will sell more autonomous vehicles than privately owned ones, aka you will own nothing. (Whether you like it is of no consequence.)

    • Its the Uber/Lyft model. First you become a taxi company without having to bother with pesky regulations like background checks for drivers. So you start with less overhead. Then once you put a hurt on the taxi companies you start jacking up your prices. Profit.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by spitzak ( 4019 )

      The idea that a shared taxi fleet would be more profitable than private cars seems very dubious. I would guess there would only be about 1/10 as many taxis as there needs to be private cars so they would have to somehow cost 10x as much as a private car.

  • Tesla is in reality compared to competitors. Now if I was a Tesla investor, I'd be extremely nervous. I'd be demanding Elon put up an independent third party verified demonstration to justify his compensation package. I doubt the Cult of Elon would allow such a thing to happen. They need to continue their total deference to Elon's statements, or they become apostates.

    The problem for the cult is we have more competitors filling up the autonomous vehicle space versus Tesla, and several that appear to be ex

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Indeed. Tesla is all show and a lot of risk, sometimes lethal. Daimler and WV are puting this tech in cars only when it works well. That is why to the average idiot they appear to be "behind" and "invest too much effort" and "all those sensors are not needed", when in actual reality it is exactly the other way round. What is really happening is that Musk kills people because of his big ego and rather pathetic skills.

      At some point it will become blatantly obvious Tesla cannot hack it on the level required. A

    • I don't know why the board doesn't boot Elon. He keeps inventing ways be a headache for them. Sure, his star power has helped in the past, but his political antics have angered almost half the country.

      Better to fail without him than fail with him.

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