This, according to VW CEO Diess, will be autonomous driving: By 2030, 15% of consolidated sales will come from robot taxis and new mobility services. The newspaper "Die Welt" reports that Wolfsburg executives are considering usage-based billing: For example, a nap in the driver's seat could cost around seven euros per hour. Upgrades to range or performance (such as different top speeds) could also be billed by the hour or day.
Public transport with autonomous vehicles:
Before mobile "autonomy" makes its way into private life, it will change our concepts of mobility as a bus service, shuttle, or taxi. To achieve this, the fully electric VW ID.Buzz bus must drive autonomously (Level 4) and enter series production as a robot taxi starting in 2025. Until then, the Wolfsburg-based automaker will test the technology in collaboration with its US partner Argo AI as part of a shuttle service to Munich Airport.
Intel's subsidiaries, Mobileye and Sixt, want to outpace VW. The companies have their sights set on launching self-driving services in Munich and Tel Aviv next year. Autonomy is guaranteed by the modular Level 4 "Mobileye Drive" system, primarily aimed at local transportation providers. Reliability is ensured by two independent systems that operate with either 13 cameras or 9 LiDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors plus 6 radar sensors.
A year later, Hyundai's autonomous (level 4) Ioniq 5 will transport its first passengers in some US cities with ride-sharing service provider Lyft.
Meanwhile, Google's sister company Waymo has reached another milestone in San Francisco, where any interested passenger can request a free ride in a self-driving electric SUV, the Jaguar I-Pace, through the Waymo app, including a safety driver. However, GM competitor Cruise is the first automaker allowed to send its autonomous taxis out on California streets without a driver as part of the CPUC's (California Public Utilities Commission) Driverless Pilot Program
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Self-driving personal vehicles are still a long way off: Tesla's Autopilot is more of an assistance system and only achieves Level 2 automation. Other manufacturers offer concept vehicles, such as the "Grandsphere Concept" presented by Audi at this year's IAA Mobility.
According to this concept and similar ones, the sedan of the future will arrive at dealerships no earlier than the second half of the decade. A 2018 ADAC/Prognos study predicts that driverless cars will be circulating on both highways and in cities by 2030. They are likely to be seen in greater numbers on the roads from 2040 onward, at the earliest.
Productronica 2021 and Autonomous Driving:
The self-driving car will also be a key focus this year at the world's leading trade fair for the development and production of electronic products. In terms of electronics, this is not a new topic. After all, driver assistance systems have been providing additional safety and comfort (for example, parking assist) for many years.
According to the consulting firm Roland Berger, the cost of electronic modules in a typical high-end combustion-engine car currently amounts to $3,145. In a semi-autonomous, electrified car, these costs will more than double, reaching $7,030 by 2025. Around a quarter of the costs ($725) can generally be attributed to digitalization. But the biggest cost driver is electric mobility. More than half of the cost increase ($2,235) is due to the electrification of the powertrain. In the case of autonomous driving, the additional funds required for automotive electronics ($925) are largely due to computing power and sensors.
At Productronica 2021, a number of companies will present machines and services for the development and manufacturing of high-performance electronics for driver assistance systems that enable automated driving. These include camera, radar, ultrasound, and LiDAR sensors, as well as multi-core SoC platforms specializing in safety and vision.
