Volkswagen and Argo AI Reveal First ID Buzz Test for Autonomous Driving
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is a standalone VW brand responsible for the development and sales of light commercial vehicles and Argo AI is an autonomous driving technology company
On 5th September 2021, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Argo AI revealed the first version of the ID Buzz AD (Autonomous Driving). Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is a standalone VW brand responsible for the development and sales of light commercial vehicles and Argo AI is an autonomous driving technology company.
Ahead of the 2021 IAA Mobility Event in Munich, Volkswagen and Argo AI shared plans to test and commercially scale the fully fully-electric self-driving van over the next four years. Both the company have developed five of these vehicle prototype jointly and testing of one prototype has already started. The testing will continue at Argo’s development center in Neufahrn, near Munich, as well as at Argo’s nine hectare closed course near the Munich airport, which tests for a variety of traffic situations unique to European driving conditions, and Argo’s test track in the United States.
The ID Buzz was first revealed by Volkswagen as a concept vehicle back in 2017, a futuristic take on the classic microbus that invokes nostalgia as a family camper van. The final product looks different than the classic camper van with the bells and whistles of autonomy including Argo’s proprietary sensor Argo Lidar at the roof of the Buzz. Argo AI claims that its lidar can detect objects from a distance of more than 1,300 feet, or 400 meters.
In an event, Christian Senger, head of autonomous driving at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles said, “An environment recognition system from six lidar, eleven radar and fourteen cameras, distributed over the entire vehicle, can capture much more than any human driver can from his seat.”
MOIA, a subsidiary of the VW Group, will be commercially launching the ID Buzz in Hamburg as part of a self-driving ride-pool system in 2025. MOIA is a subsidiary of the VW Group that works with cities and local public transport providers on mobility solutions. The self-driving ride-pool system is designed to leverage the power of autonomous systems to relieve inner-city congestion.
Bryan Salesky, founder and CEO of Argo AI said, “Building on our five years of development and learnings from our operations in large, complex U.S. cities, we are excited to soon begin testing on the streets of Munich in preparation for the launch of the self-driving commercial ridepooling service with MOIA.”
Earlier this year in July, Argo and Ford announced the plans to launch at least 1,000 self-driving vehicles on Lyft’s ride-hailing network over the next five years in cities like Miami and Austin. Argo also received a Drivered AV pilot permit from the California Public Utilities Commission in the same month to start testing on public California roads. Argo AI was recently valued at USD 7.5 billion, almost 2 years after Volkswagen Group finalized its USD 2.6 billion investment in the company.
