Volkswagen To Roll Out First Tests Of Self-Driving ‘Microbus’ Vans On US Roads

Volkswagen is bringing its first self-driving program to the US. Austin, Texas, will play host to the German marque’s first stateside foray into autonomous vehicles.
 
In March last year, Volkswagen debuted the ID Buzz, a sustainable and modernized version of the classic Microbus. The much-loved classic car has now gone electric and autonomous with the addition of radars, LIDAR sensors, and cameras to help it navigate the roads.

Currently, self-driving cars have not had a great track record in the US, with multiple causing accidents on the road. Volkswagen hopes to avoid this by locking the vans to specific mapped locations in the city. This could possibly mean that the ride-sharing vans will only operate on a loop around Austin.
 
In total, 10 of these vehicles will be hitting the streets of Austin by the year’s end. But for now, it’s starting with just two vans this July. Data will be gathered and analyzed in these initial tests before any additional actions are taken. As such, Volkswagen is dispatching employees with their vehicles while the experiment runs to ensure safety.

Over in Germany, Volkswagen has already been testing different types of driverless vans through a ride-sharing service called Moia. For its US-based project, it partnered with Jerusalem-based Mobileye to use its Level 4 self-driving system, which entails full autonomy in specific conditions. If all goes well, Volkswagen is looking to expand the service to four more US cities.
 
 
 
[via Futurism and Engadget, cover image via Volkswagen]