The strange new term “mobility” may soon emerge from the nebulous realm of concept into the only slightly less nebulous realm of reality as VW’s MOIA sub-brand looks to put its ride-sharing shuttle on the road this year.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll see it driving around, but Hamburgers might.
No, we aren’t talking about Rand McNally, where they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people. According to Auto Express, the city of Hamburg is a likely location for a MOIA pilot project. Volkswagen even revealed that a primitive version based on the T6 has already been out testing.
One city this year may not feel like a big achievement for what is essentially a Transporter with windows and a fancy infotainment system, but by 2025 MOIA hopes to have a million vehicles in major cities around the world.
Neither will the shuttle be quite as simple as a traditional car. Volkswagen revealed at CES that it will be the first car to benefit from the brand’s partnership with Aurora, the autonomous experts.
The shuttle isn’t the only product you can expect to hear about this year, though. Although he wouldn’t share details, the brand’s Chief Digital Officer, Johann Jungwirth, said that a new product is coming.
“You’ll see something else from MOIA this year, too,” he told Auto Express, “Although it won’t be at a motor show – we’ll probably just put it on the streets for people to see.”
Just what that will be, remains to be seen, but Auto Express reports that VW showed autonomous concepts-a-plenty in Las Vegas this week. These, though, were shown under the Sedric banner.
Sedric—you remember Sedric, don’t you? The little living room pod on wheels—may eventually come to adorn autonomous race cars, tractor-less trailers (a-la “Logan”), delivery vans, and more. These, too, will benefit from Aurora’s expertise.
[source: Auto Express]
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