Volkswagen has come to the 2018 CEBIT fair in Hannover, Germany with an autonomous all-electric minivan it calls Sedric Active. The company believes the vehicle will be especially interesting to sports and active leisure enthusiasts, as well as for taxi services.
The van is essentially a new version of the Sedric Concept which debuted at the last year’s Geneva International Motor Show in Switzerland. The two are virtually identical in terms of the exterior design and lack the driver’s seat. Both offer a spacious interior with a few seats and a small sofa for up to four passengers. The seats are clad in durable yellow and turquoise fabric.
The Sedric Active sports a highly rectangular body frame, roof-mounted radars and a rack suitable for carrying a surfboard or a sail. If it ever makes it into series, it is likely to feature an on-board AI. At any rate, VW’s Director of IT Martin Hoffman has said that the company had been busy moving all of its client-oriented services and internal IT systems to cloud storage for better integration with the upcoming AI tech.
The VW lab in Munich is a second home to many experts in machine learning and AI, who have developed hundreds of applications for the company and its clients throughout the years.
Martin Hoffman added that another promising direction Volkswagen is currently looking into is quantum computing. The researchers use quantum calculations to try and find new metallic alloys and to devise new algorithms that would help optimize road traffic.
Photo: autobild.es