Volkswagen-Mobileye autonomous vehicle tests to launch in Austin

Volkswagen It said on Thursday that it will start testing self-driving electric vehicles later this month in Austin, Texas.

The German auto giant said it will deploy around 10 ID Buzz electric vans equipped with an autonomous driving system developed with Mobileye by the end of 2023. The first two of these vans are already on sale in the US and will begin testing by the end of July, it said.

The self-driving ID Buzz van is equipped with lidar, radar and camera systems. Volkswagen says the vehicles have “geofencing,” meaning they can only operate within specific areas of the city that have been carefully mapped.

Currently, all of its self-driving vehicles will be tested with human safety drivers.

“We chose Austin for our first U.S. hub because of the city’s proven track record in embracing innovation and providing the best infrastructure for autonomous vehicle testing,” said Katrin Lohmann, head of Volkswagen’s U.S. autonomous driving business. favorable environment.”

Roman said the company expects to expand its Austin fleet and add testing operations in at least four U.S. cities over the next three years.

The move is the latest in a series of moves the auto giant has made in recent months to improve its self-driving strategy, including a deeper partnership with Mobileye and a new ride-sharing initiative for its Europe-based carmaker. Service MOIA makes new investments.

While the company has been working on launching a robo-taxi service in Europe, it currently has no plans to launch its own ride-sharing service in the United States. Instead, it plans to offer its self-driving ID Buzz vans and fleet management capabilities to other businesses offering ride-sharing or delivery services.

along with FordVolkswagen was an investor in the now-defunct Pittsburgh self-driving startup Argo AI. For a while, Argo was considered a leader in the race to develop fully autonomous vehicles, but Ford and Volkswagen decided to shut down the company in October 2022, citing rising costs and strategic differences.

Ford launched a new subsidiary called Latitude AI in March to expand its BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system. The unit includes approximately 550 employees who previously worked at Argo AI.

Volkswagen said it also hired some former Argo AI employees to work on its self-driving projects in the United States.