There’s quite a bit of buzz around Volkswagen’s new plan for IDBuzz vans that will change the game in terms of self-driving electric powerhouse models.
Today Mariella Moon at Engadget reports the automaker expects to have IDBuzz autonomous electric taxi vans on the road by 2025.
Volkswagen plans to install Argo AI in these larger vehicles, and is testing the technology in six U.S. locations, reportedly urban areas with a lot of available data to build models and projections.
Poised to compete in what Car and Driver calls a “largely untapped market,” the IDBuzz van is predicted to feature 300-mile range and sell for about $40,000, although it’s important to note this is still a concept car for practical purposes. In other development news, its Modular Electric Drive platform has already been rolled out in other Volkswagen vehicles, and experts estimate 200 hp for these vans.
For fans of the old Volkswagen van, though, maybe the most exciting aspect of this new arrival is the nostalgia exterior that’s supposed to come with these new electric self-driving vans. Early image releases show a style that evokes the history of the VW traveler’s van and its ubiquity at Grateful Dead shows and everywhere else across the U.S.
There’s also some neat the inside.
“Early images of the Microbus’ infotainment system show an iPad mounted in a housing that sprouts from the center console,” writes Car and Driver’s Eric Stafford. “While that’s a novel way to provide the features and information that are standard or optional on most modern cars, we expect VW to equip the van with a more conventional dashboard-mounted touchscreen that supports the latest iteration of its Car-Net software. That means Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and a Wi-Fi hotspot should be on the roster. We also expect a generous number of charging ports and possibly some sort of rear-seat entertainment system.”
Look for more on this “people’s van” in the months to come.
