Electrification, complex software and autonomous driving will carry ever greater weight. This is how the Volkswagen Group envisions the future of the car.
Anticipating the infinite variables of road traffic and providing adequate responses, especially in urban environments. This is the challenge that the Volkswagen Group has taken on for the development of the cars of the future, alongside electrification and software. So says the head of the German group, Herbert Diess: "By 2030 we expect 85 per cent of our business to be tied to cars – private, rental, shared – and 15 per cent to the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) sphere, meaning autonomous-driving shuttles." A highly significant statement, made on the occasion of the New Auto night event held in Munich.
At the New Auto night, the special guest alongside Diess was Bryan Salesky, CEO of Argo AI. What is that? A tech company with which the Volkswagen Group has joined forces to advance the development and understanding of the most advanced technologies in the field of artificial intelligence. Not only that: as a result of this collaboration, a team of artificial intelligence and machine learning experts is working to develop, in a joint effort between the US and Munich, the Self Driving System (SDS). In other words, a system capable of anticipating and responding optimally to any traffic condition, especially where traffic is hardest to predict – that is, in cities. The partnership has a concrete goal: to launch an autonomous-driving shuttle service on the streets of Hamburg in 2025. Among the many noteworthy aspects of the collaboration between the Volkswagen Group and Argo AI is certainly the joint team's approach: "Aiming directly at the maximum possible complexity, without intermediate steps, in order to develop a reliable, comfortable and safe system for everyone to bring onto the streets of cities around the world," explains Salesky.
Autonomous driving means above all safety, thanks to the possibility of preventing accidents caused by human error. This is certainly the most important aspect, though not the only one. If the cars travelling in cities are all managed by AI, stops and restarts can potentially be avoided and traffic flows more smoothly. This entails a significant time saving for people and a marked reduction in consumption for vehicles, with all the benefits that follow.
To achieve what has been described above, highly advanced technology is indispensable. Salesky says he is convinced that the difference will be made by the availability of Argo AI's Lidar (a highly sophisticated type of radar), the most technologically advanced in the sector. Developed specifically for fully autonomous driving, it is capable of 360-degree detection at a distance of over 400 metres, focusing on and recognising even the darkest objects – those that reflect less than 1 per cent of light.
A complex technology such as autonomous driving cannot do without a gigantic volume of data, which forms the basis for making the right decision at every moment (aided, moreover, by an infrastructure that is itself advanced and connected). Here is what the CEO of Argo AI thinks about this: "Our idea is precise: to make available to the system not the largest dataset, but the most complete one." For this reason, the technological platform underpinning the Volkswagen Group's autonomous-driving models is extremely flexible, and will enable the management of different and complementary services: from passenger transport, for example in the form of the ride pooling offered by Moia, to the movement and delivery of goods.
A concrete example of what has just been described can be found in the Volkswagen ID. Buzz AD, a vehicle conceived from a blank sheet of paper to accommodate – indeed, to integrate – autonomous-driving technology. "With ID. Buzz AD we are not adapting a model already on the market to the new technology; we are creating an autonomous-driving vehicle from the ground up," Salesky emphasised. And it is precisely in this initial approach to the vehicle's development work, with autonomous driving as the foundation of everything, that one of the most important strengths of the collaboration between the Volkswagen Group and Argo AI lies. On one side, a group that draws on decisive know-how in terms of engineering, mechanics, hardware and integrated digital systems on board. On the other, a cutting-edge technology company that makes a fundamental contribution on the software side relating to autonomous driving.
The arrival of autonomous driving on our roads depends on many factors. Not least national legislation and the local context. Moreover, one must not forget that this technology will need to be adapted to the characteristics of individual cities. All of which is to say that pinning down a date with certainty right now is almost impossible. What is possible is to set goals for the future, even ambitious ones. The German group and Argo AI have set their sights on launching a fully autonomous ride pooling service in Hamburg in 2025. The partner in this project will be Moia, a company within the Group already operating in the city with a fleet of 100 per cent electric Volkswagen e-Crafter vehicles.
While it is true that the commercial use of autonomous driving is still difficult to place in time, it is equally true that practical testing is already well advanced. For around four years, Argo AI has been testing its autonomous vehicles in six cities in the US, with very different scenarios that generate considerable added value for technological development, in terms of the variety of data from road infrastructure and driving behaviour. Outside the US, testing is under way, with ID. Buzz AD, in a closed area near Munich Airport. This is a necessary phase to refine the Self Driving System before the next, imminent step, which will see it travel on the public roads of the Bavarian city.