Volkswagen Pushes Forward with Autonomous Driving Technology
Jun 28, 2025

Volkswagen Pushes Forward with Autonomous Driving Technology

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

On June 17, 2025, Hamburg's Senator for Transport and Mobility Transition, Anjes Tjarks, was present at the unveiling of the autonomous "Volkswagen ID.Buzz AD" in Hamburg's Hafencity. The event marked a significant milestone for Volkswagen as it presented the series version of its autonomous electric van ID Buzz for the first time. The ID.Buzz AD microbus is designed to operate at Level 4 autonomy, meaning it can drive without a human driver in designated locations, times, and driving conditions. Volkswagen plans to work with existing transportation and mobility companies, providing them with the necessary hardware, including the vehicle, sensors, and compute, as well as the autonomous driving software stack and fleet management software. The first batch of 500 vehicles is slated for delivery in 2026 to Uber for ride-hailing trials in Los Angeles. Initially, these vehicles will have a human driver on board, but the goal is to transition to fully autonomous ride-hailing by 2027. Currently, the ID.Buzz AD is being tested on the streets of Hamburg by Moia, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group that focuses on developing on-demand ride-pooling services to redefine mobility in urban areas. Volkswagen has been working towards entering the autonomous mobility market since 2020, investing billions of dollars in internal efforts, such as the CARIAD software division, and external collaborations, including a co-investment in Argo.ai. However, these efforts have faced delays and setbacks, leading to board tensions and senior executive changes. Despite these challenges, Volkswagen is rebooting its autonomous driving efforts at a time when technology giants like Waymo-Alphabet, Zoox-Amazon, and Tesla are already making significant progress in the field. Other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as Ford and GM Cruise, have also faced similar challenges in their autonomous driving endeavors.