How Volkswagen Plans to Compete with Waymo and Tesla

Just before Tesla wants to send its first own robotaxi service onto the streets of the United States, a provider from Europe is confidently drawing attention to itself in terms of autonomous on-demand mobility: In Hamburg, Volkswagen and

Moia not only presented their production-ready Level 4 robotaxi, the I.D. Buzz AD, to the public. VW, together with its mobility subsidiary, also provides a "turnkey complete solution for fully autonomous driving services," as the partners themselves call the white-label offering.

"Our big goal is to optimise traffic flow through ride-sharing and better control enabled by autonomous vehicles," said Moia CEO Sascha Meyer ahead of the robotaxi premiere. "We want to show that the German automotive industry has the technological competence to industrialise autonomous mobility on a large scale - scalable from 2027 in Europe and the USA."

The all-inclusive mobility package

Behind this confident statement is a comprehensive mobility concept that Moia and the parent company have built over the last few years through their commercial vehicle division VWN and with the experience of the ongoing ride-pooling offer in Hamburg. The whole thing is called Moia Turnkey Solution and now finally marks Volkswagen's departure from being a pure provider of mobility to a provider of technology, platform, business model, and know-how in the form of an all-inclusive package of autonomous mobility.

Mobility providers such as Uber, with whom VW recently announced a major partnership in the USA, or local transport companies like the Hamburger Hochbahn or the BVG in Berlin, are expected to benefit. All of them should be able to relatively easily and quickly integrate autonomous on-demand services into their own offerings with the help of Moia, depending on the legal framework and political will, in the near future.

For Christian Senger, who is responsible for autonomous mobility at Volkswagen, it is clear: "The robotaxi is the best industrial icebreaker for autonomous mobility." The leap to fully autonomous driving is, for him, a disruptive moment that, for liability reasons, does not initially take place in the private car sector. "Suddenly, the vehicle owner is no longer responsible, but a professional company. That's why fully autonomous driving also starts in the B2B sector."

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Senger and Meyer predict a completely new market here, which does not arise solely from the automotive industry on the one hand or the mobility sector on the other. They call this new intermediate world Physical AI, in which medium triple-digit billion amounts could be generated in the next ten years. "This physical AI is not a normal cloud AI. It must decide in milliseconds, consume little energy, require high intrinsic safety - and remain affordable and scalable," explains Christian Senger.

The Technology: the ID. Buzz AD

The central technological component of this mobility vision from VW and Moia is the new production version of the ID. Buzz AD, which was designed for driverless use in the EU and the USA by the end of 2026, early 2027. The new version is essentially based on the prototype that has been in operation in Hamburg, Munich, Austin, and Oslo for further development.

Unlike the development vehicles, the production version has an extended wheelbase and a raised roofline to facilitate entry and also address the issue of accessibility. Regarding redundancy in environmental perception, the ID. Buzz AD underscores Volkswagen's commitment to multisensory technology: 13 cameras, nine laser scanners (lidar), and five radar sensors are intended to distinguish between other cars, cyclists, and pedestrians in the dense urban traffic of Hamburg or Los Angeles and initiate appropriate driving maneuvers. The 27 sensors are intended to provide both 300 meters of long-range visibility on the motorway, for which the ID. Buzz AD is also designed, and short-range visibility directly in front of the bumper.

The core of the autonomous shuttle is the self-driving system from tech partner Mobileye, with which VW and Moia have been collaborating since the break with Argo.AI, and from which they hope for significantly more scaling capabilities in the context of Level 4 autonomy in Hamburg and Hanover. The system is complemented by proprietary map data, geoNet route intelligence, and cloud-based updates that feed in the latest software every six weeks.

“Our ID. Buzz AD is the first production vehicle specifically developed for fully autonomous mobility according to European standards,” Christian Senger proudly emphasises. “The robotaxi is intended to be a real utility vehicle, capable of being in operation for up to twenty hours a day if necessary.” Currently, the robotaxi fleet is still in test operation with 100 test vehicles in Germany and the USA. Over 600,000 kilometres have already been completed in test operations, along with countless hours of simulated testing.

The platform: Software, Safety, Training

Almost more important and ultimately more lucrative than the vehicle and the self-driving technology is what VW and Moia still offer in their white-label portfolio. This includes the Mobility-as-a-Service platform, which includes passenger management, fleet control, a third-party interface, or the empowerment of the operator team.

The software created by the 300 Moia developers (and an unspecified number of teams from the Cariad environment) is intended to use artificial intelligence to control fleets in real-time, automate passenger care and detect their emotions, monitor safety, and seamlessly integrate into existing booking apps. "These functions cannot be transferred to humans without immense costs - that's why integrated AI is essential for a functioning business case," emphasises Moia CEO Sascha Meyer.

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All this under the mantra repeatedly emphasised by Meyer and Senger, that all quality standards and regulatory requirements are meticulously adhered to - perhaps to set themselves apart from other providers from less regulated markets. "We develop these standards - and where automation is not possible, we specifically qualify and certify as well," explains Meyer. The so-called Operation Enablement is the third component in the overall solution from VW and Moia. This is intended to allow operators of robotaxi fleets to essentially obtain consulting services from Moia's teams to more easily implement and operate the autonomous ride-pooling service.

No fear of Waymo and Co.

The autonomous ID.Buzz is now at the starting line, the mobility package is ready. But when and where will it start? In Hamburg, Moia is expected to launch with autonomous on-demand ride-pooling and significantly more than 500 vehicles during the course of 2026 - but initially still with safety drivers. The ID. Buzz AD will probably not be seen completely driverless in the Hanseatic city until 2027 - also depending on the legal situation for autonomous driving in Germany and worldwide at that time.

The same applies to the partnership with Uber in the USA. In Los Angeles, they will also start this year initially with safety drivers, and in 2027 it is supposed to continue fully autonomously. Overall, a fleet of several thousand self-driving electric buses is expected to be on the road in California, bookable via the Uber app. The cooperation with the ride-hailing giant is then the first litmus test to see if Moia can really succeed as a system supplier.

Christian Senger is certainly full of self-confidence and does not shy away from comparison with new, ambitious players like Waymo, Zoox, Apollo, or Motional. "Our core competitors all still base their activities on the thesis that there are no synergies between fully autonomous driving and driver assistance systems, especially in terms of redundancy and performance," explains the VW manager.

Together with Mobileye, they are proving that it is indeed possible to synergistically develop an ADAS stack into a Level 4 system. All data from the Volkswagen Group's vehicle fleet and sensor technology from the private car sector flow into the further development of autonomous shuttles. For Senger, this is a significant strategic advantage in terms of scalability.

Additionally, the ID. Buzz AD provides a comparatively affordable base vehicle, a team at Moia familiar with the daily operations of a mobility provider, and Volkswagen's invaluable expertise in mass production. "This makes us more than competitive against the competition," Senger emphasises. This sets the tone in the robotaxi race. A confident signal from Europe, which must now be followed quickly and convincingly by actions.