Volkswagen is putting its rival to Tesla’s Robotaxi to the test in Wolfsburg, Germany. The company’s autonomous driving research vehicle, Gen.Urban, is now driving autonomously in real city traffic, without a steering wheel or pedals.
Not Yet Fully Autonomous
VW’s Gen.Urban research project aims to investigate how passengers experience traveling on real roads, among real drivers, in an autonomous vehicle without a traditional steering wheel or pedals, and what these requirements might mean for future vehicle concepts.
Key questions VW is seeking answers to include:
- How do people spend their time in an autonomous vehicle?
- Which digital features best support work, entertainment, or relaxation?
- How should the interaction between the vehicle and passengers be designed, especially for the elderly or children?
- And most importantly: Do people feel comfortable and safe?
Dr. [Name], Head of Innovation at Volkswagen Group Nikolai Ardey states the following regarding the matter: “Autonomous driving technology is advancing rapidly. With our Gen.Urban research vehicle, we want to understand exactly how passengers experience autonomous driving. Because: The key to a positive customer experience is meaningful interaction, a comfortable atmosphere, and building trust through intelligent assistance systems that fully respond to passengers’ needs. Ultimately, technology should adapt to humans, not the other way around. We will benefit from these insights across the entire Group in the long term.”
There is an important point to note here: Although Volkswagen designed the Gen.Urban without a steering wheel or pedals, in the vehicles participating in these tests, a trained safety driver monitors the vehicle from the passenger seat. This driver is ready to control the vehicle at any moment using a specially developed joystick control panel.
This means we are still quite far from the futuristic Volkswagen Gen.Travel concept introduced in 2022.
However, Volkswagen’s autonomous driving efforts have been in the public testing phase since the company introduced ten specially modified VW.Buzz AD electric vans in 2023. Testing with these vans appears to have gone well enough for Volkswagen to announce plans to begin large-scale production.
