Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and CARIAD, pioneers in autonomous driving
The development of autonomous driving technologies is a key pillar of the Volkswagen Group's strategy. The aim is to bring new functionalities to market as quickly and efficiently as possible. To achieve this goal, the Company has identified two distinct areas of action: individual mobility and Mobility-as-a-Service.
Autonomous and highly automated driving is one of the Volkswagen Group's priorities and one of the pillars of the NEW AUTO strategy, which will take the Group into the next era of mobility. Technology development has been divided into two areas in order to make the best use of resources and achieve goals in the most effective way.
In the area of individual mobility, that is, the one involving cars that customers buy, CARIAD continues to drive forward the development of highly automated and autonomous driving together with Bosch and, in the near future, with China's Horizon Robotics for the local market. On the other hand, in the area of autonomous driving-as-a-service (Mobility-as-a-Service, MaaS / Transport-as-a-Service, TaaS), which is thus intended for fleets, the Volkswagen Group is continuing to consolidate its partnerships, especially through Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.
"Focus and speed count, especially in the development of future technologies. Our goal is to offer our customers the most powerful functions at the earliest possible time and to set up our development as cost-effectively as possible" explains Oliver Blume, CEO of the Volkswagen Group.
Individual mobility and autonomous driving
The Automated Driving Alliance is the partnership between CARIAD and Bosch that aims to develop automated driving for individual mobility. Its goal is to make partially and highly automated driving suitable for mass use and available to everyone.
In this way, vehicles of Volkswagen Group brands will have functions that allow drivers to explicitly take their hands off the steering wheel at times. Level 2 systems, advanced driver assistance systems, act in city, countryside and highway contexts, supporting the driver, who must still maintain control at all times. With Level 3, the vehicle takes over the complete driving task on highways - the first functions are to be implemented in 2023; while Level 4 autonomous driving will be introduced later.
The collaboration between CARIAD and Horizon Robotics is dedicated to the development of automated driving with a specific focus on one of the world's most important growth markets - China. The Volkswagen Group has also entered into a partnership in the area of hardware with Qualcomm, for high-performance chips for automated driving.
Mobility-as-a-Service
Within the NEW AUTO strategy, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is working on the development of autonomous driving as a service - MaaS and TaaS - and is collaborating with a partner (whose name will be announced soon) to develop technology for its self-driving fleets. This collaboration has already brought equipped ID.Buzz prototypes on the roads to test the technology. The ultimate goal is to give MOIA - the Volkswagen Group's ride pooling service – users the chance to book autonomously driving ID. Buzz in Hamburg in 2025.
"The new cooperation will also strengthen collaboration within the Group to develop highly automated and autonomous driving", says Christian Senger, member of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand board of management responsible for MaaS/TaaS and AD.
Source: Volkswagen Newsroom
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