Volkswagen's ID.Buzz drives for Waymo – and for Uber

For the first rides, safety personnel are still on board. It is a kind of compromise between pioneering spirit and responsibility, before the first commercial rides without a driver are expected to be offered in 2026. Christian Senger, head of Volkswagen's autonomous driving division, speaks of an important step towards "a new form of mobility." Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi calls it a "milestone."

This is PR, but not without reason. Because in reality, autonomous driving is no longer an empty promise. In San Francisco, Phoenix, and other cities, Waymo's vehicles are already cruising through the streets – completely without a driver. The Google subsidiary currently has over 700 self-driving vehicles in operation, 300 of which are in the Californian tech metropolis alone.

Friendly "Face" – Lots of Technology Behind It

Volkswagen is taking a slightly different approach with the ID.Buzz AD: not futuristic-sterile, but familiar in design, with the charm of a modern Bulli. However, beneath the friendly-looking exterior lies complex technology: sensors, cameras, lidar – a type of laser radar – and a lot of software are supposed to safely navigate the vehicle through city traffic.

In Germany, the whole thing remains a distant goal for now. Although Moia, VW's mobility subsidiary, is also experimenting with autonomous shuttles – for instance, in Hamburg. But in this country, the regulatory landscape is tougher and progress correspondingly slower.