VOLKSWAGEN ADMT ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT WITH MOBILEYE FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING
>> Volkswagen ADMT will work with Mobileye on a fleet of autonomous vehicles at scale—a first for a global automaker.
>> Volkswagen is the first vehicle manufacturer to develop an autonomous Level 4 service vehicle for large-scale production
>> The aim is to use it in the commercial sector, for example for mobility and transport services in Europe and the USA
>> High synergies with systems for automated driving within Volkswagen Group: shared module use from Level 2+ to Level 4
Hannover – Autonomous driving is coming. Following an extensive pilot phase with road testing in Germany and the USA, Volkswagen ADMT GmbH, part of Volkswagen AG, is announcing a cooperation agreement with the Israeli technology company Mobileye Global Inc. Mobileye shall develop and supply software, hardware components and digital maps for the self-driving ID. Buzz AD.
The main part of the agreement covers delivery and use of a self-driving system (SDS) based on the Mobileye Drive™ platform for a special version of the ID. Buzz, which has been under development for autonomous driving since 2021. It corresponds to the so-called Level 4 definition of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), in which the autonomous vehicle operates self-driving in a defined area such as a city. The basis for this are various software and hardware components, including two independent high-performance computers as well as 13 cameras, nine lidar and five radar units, each of which is capable of producing 360-degree surroundings. A constant online connection to clouds provides the autonomous vehicles with swarm data from other road users about the traffic situation as well as updates to the three-dimensional maps.
"Bringing autonomous shuttles on the road in large quantities requires cooperation from strong partners," says Christian Senger, member of the Board of Management at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, responsible for Autonomous Driving: "We are developing the first fully autonomous large-scale production vehicle, and Mobileye brings its digital driver on board."
An advantage of the cooperation is the synergy with systems for automated driving in the Volkswagen group; depending on the expansion level, modules can be shared across SAE levels from 2+ to 4. The aim of Volkswagen ADMT GmbH is to develop the fully electric autonomous ID. Buzz AD for the use in mobility and transport services from 2026.
This also includes intelligent fleet control: The Volkswagen Group company MOIA has been operating Europe's largest private ride pooling service in Hamburg since 2019 and has transported more than ten million passengers to date. MOIA brings its practical know-how into the development: Unlike individual (partially) autonomous cars, which are used individually by vehicle owners, mobility services are dedicated to transporting passengers to their desired destinations within the defined urban area and drop them off safely.
Another use case for self-driving vehicles is, for example, the transport of packages. The logistics market has grown significantly in recent years due to the increasing share of e-commerce. Delivery capacity is already one of the biggest challenges the industry is facing due to the driver shortage. Autonomous transport will therefore be a possible solution to ensure long-term delivery capability and participate in market growth. Volkswagen ADMT GmbH is working intensively on autonomous freight transport for various industries as a second important pillar alongside autonomous passenger transport. In the future, autonomous vehicles shall be able to drive to certain loading and unloading stations or to customer addresses independently.
Autonomous vehicles for mobility and transportation services solve the driver shortage that has been the case for many years. Robo-shuttles promote both the quality of life and the economic development of cities.
