After making waves in New York City, Volkswagen’s electric ID Bus van is now coming to US cities as a robotaxi. Volkswagen and Uber announced a massive plan on Thursday to deploy thousands of self-driving ID Bus vans over the next decade. The pilot project will begin in Los Angeles later this year, with the goal of full commercial service by 2026. The project, which will start with human supervisors, will use ride-pooling technology from Volkswagen’s Berlin-based MOIA.
Volkswagen has been preparing for this massive project for some time. They began testing ID Bus vans retrofitted with autonomous driving hardware, including lidar, radar, and cameras, in Austin in June 2023. Before that, the technology was successfully tested in Hamburg, Germany, as part of a three-year pilot program that will last until 2026. In Hamburg, the technology was demonstrated by the development of a 15-person electric shuttle called ‘Mover’ in collaboration with MOIA.
The self-driving system of the ID Bus vans integrates technology from Holon, a Benteler spin-off, in addition to MOIA’s hardware and software. Holon plans to bring the electric vans to the US, starting in Jacksonville, Florida. However, it is not yet clear whether there will be cooperation with US states, as in Germany. The project is expected to add new dimensions to the growth of robotaxi services in the US.
Robotaxis are increasingly popular in the US. Uber has already launched robotaxi services in Austin and Atlanta, in partnership with Google parent Alphabet’s Waymo. Waymo is successfully operating driverless Jaguar I-Pace vehicles in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco, completing more than 200,000 trips a week. The Uber-Waymo service, which will start with limited capacity in Austin, will expand to Atlanta this year.
Tesla is also in the robotaxi space, with plans to launch a driverless ride-hailing service in Austin this June. But Volkswagen’s ID Bus vans are more likely to arrive in the US first. Volkswagen’s advanced technology and Uber’s advanced ride-sharing platform are set to shape the future of transportation in US cities.