- Volkswagen unveils new autonomous taxi prototype but says almost nothing about it.
- The Gen.Urban is currently operating on a set route in Wolfsburg to observe passenger reactions to vehicles without a steering wheel.
- Volkswagen wants to enter the autonomous vehicle space and it plans to offer a self-driving ID. Buzz next year.
More carmakers are looking at producing driverless robotaxis and Volkswagen wants to be at the forefront. The German giant has begun testing an autonomous cab in its hometown of Wolfsburg, Germany, without a steering wheel and pedals. It’s just a research project for now, but the Gen.Urban self-driving taxi is likely a prototype that will eventually spawn a production vehicle.
Volkswagen previously revealed a robotaxi based on the ID. Buzz, which will go on sale next year. However, the Gen.Urban is different and looks like a bespoke vehicle specifically designed for robotaxi duty.
In a news release announcing the start of testing in Wolfsburg, Volkswagen shared almost no information about the vehicle.
Aside from the lack of physical controls and its focus on gauging passenger reactions to being driven autonomously, we don’t know much. There is a safety driver onboard for now (sitting in the passenger’s seat), who can take control of the vehicle with a joystick.
The vehicle looks like it belongs to the ID. family of electric vehicles, but it’s that little bit more futuristic-looking. VW only released one photo of the Gen.Urban, but it appears to be a four-door vehicle with rear-hinged rear doors, so it may not have a traditional B-pillar to facilitate easy access into the back seats.
It also doesn’t have traditional side mirrors because it doesn’t need them. It has camera pods instead, as well as one forward-facing camera that we can see. There are likely cameras mounted on the sides of the vehicle, and we can see a bump on the roof toward the rear, which likely houses the rear-facing camera, possibly along with other sensors.
The four sensor pods at the corners of the greenhouse leave you in no doubt that this is a vehicle that is meant to drive itself. To make sure, VW has large stickers on all sides of the prototype reading “Research Vehicle.” It looks a lot like the Rimac Verne robotaxi, but it has two extra doors, a more rounded greenhouse and sensors placed in completely different locations.
VW makes no mention of its plans for the Gen.Urban, but given that it looks like a model specially designed for autonomous driving and we know VW has autonomous vehicle plans, we can assume it’s destined for sale later down the line. It wouldn’t have designed a completely new model just to see how passengers react to being in something without a steering wheel—there has to be more to it than that.
The Gen.Urban prototype is currently driving in Wolfsburg on a specific set route, likely only carrying company employees for now. However, it shows that VW is very serious about entering the robotaxi game, and it hopes it can become a leader, at least in Europe, where the big autonomous ride-hailing players from the U.S. and China are only now entering.
