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Volkswagen Group of America (VWGoA) has begun its first autonomous vehicle test program in Austin starting in July 2023.
Courtesy: Volkswagen AG
Volkswagen Thursday said it will begin testing self-driving electric cars in Austin, Texas, later this month.
The German auto giant said it would deploy about 10 of its ID Buzz electric vans equipped with self-driving systems developed with Mobileye by the end of 2023. The first two of those vans are already in the US and will begin testing before the end of July, he said.
ID Buzz self-driving trucks are equipped with lidar, radar and camera systems. Volkswagen said the vehicles are “geo-fenced,” meaning they will only operate in specific, carefully mapped areas of the city.
For now, all of its self-driving vehicles will have human safety drivers on board during testing.
“We chose Austin as our first hub in the US, as the city has a strong track record for incubating innovation and provides a conducive environment for testing self-driving vehicles,” said Katherine Lehmann, an executive who leads Volkswagen’s self-driving efforts in the US.
Lowmann said the company expects to expand its fleet in Austin and add testing operations in at least four other US cities over the next three years.
Volkswagen Group of America (VWGoA) has begun its first autonomous vehicle test program in Austin starting in July 2023.
Courtesy: Volkswagen AG
The move is the latest in a series of steps the auto giant has taken to revamp its self-driving strategy in recent months, including a deeper partnership with Mobileye and new investments in MOIA, the Europe-based ride-sharing service.
While the company has been working toward servicing automated bots in Europe, it doesn’t plan its own ride-sharing service in the United States just yet. Instead, it plans to offer ID Buzz’s autonomous trucks and fleet management capabilities to other companies that provide ride-sharing or delivery services.
along with Ford MotorVolkswagen was an investor in the now-defunct Pittsburgh-based self-driving startup Argo AI. For a while, Argo was considered a frontrunner in the race to develop fully self-driving cars — but Ford and Volkswagen have decided to wind up the company in October of 2022, citing escalating costs and differences over strategy.
Ford in March launched a new subsidiary, called Latitude AI, to expand on its BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system. This unit includes about 550 employees who previously worked at Argo AI.
She added that Volkswagen has also hired some former Argo AI employees for its self-driving efforts in the US.
Volkswagen Group of America (VWGoA) has begun its first autonomous vehicle test program in Austin starting in July 2023.
Courtesy: Volkswagen AG
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