VW ID. Buzz becomes a robotaxi

Moia, a German company from the Volkswagen Group, has turned the Volkswagen ID. Buzz electric van into a fully autonomous taxi vehicle. The company plans to deploy its first taxi fleets in Europe and the United States next year.

The vehicle features a long wheelbase and has SAE Level 4 self-driving equipment on board. 27 sensors, 9 LiDARs, 5 radars and 13 cameras allow it to monitor the environment in a 360-degree overview at all times. Many of the sensors reside in a dedicated roof box, while the others are distributed around the whole body.

Despite being fully autonomous by design, the ID. Buzz AD features a conventional driver seat with all controls for emergencies. It also has four passenger seats and a luggage area where the front passenger seat usually is. The company claims an AI will supervise safety at all times, but the passengers will be able to hit a panic button to send an SOS signal, contact an operator or request an emergency stop.

Moia promises that its robotaxi will be intuitive to interact with. For example, passengers will be able to unlock the door using their smartphones. There are no further details on this feature, but we suppose that a mobile app will be required for that.

In 2026, Volkswagen Group and Moia plan to enter the autonomous taxi market with a ready-made infrastructure – not just the vehicles, but also software products and services to be used by taxi fleet operators. Their idea of a self-driving EV fleet is one of a scalable package offer to enable businesses to launch their own taxi services from scratch. Authorities in Europe may also find it useful for launching new municipal transport routes.