After unveiling its ID. Buzz AD van in June, Volkswagen has started on Friday public road testing of its first autonomous vehicles in Berlin.
The German legacy automaker has partnered with Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), the main public transport company of Berlin, for a pilot initiative to test autonomous public transport using self-driving shuttles.
According to the CEO of BVG, Henrik Falk, “autonomous vehicles will allow us to create an entirely new mobility system that truly responds to the individual needs of the people in our city.”
The NoWeL4 (Nord-Westraum Level 4) project received €9.5 million in funding from the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport.
The initiative, through which VW will deploy five autonomous vehicles across a 15-square-kilometre test in west Berlin, was officially launched on Friday in the presence of Federal Minister of Transport, Patrick Schnieder.
The vehicles will be remotely monitored from a control center and will have a safety driver inside the vehicle during the test phase.
Passenger test rides are expected to begin in the first half of 2026.
The project will run until 2027. From then on, it is planned to transition into regular service, integrated within the public transportation service.
The ID Buzz AD is based on the company’s seven-seat van, is equipped with SAE’s Level 4 autonomy and with software developed by VW‘s subsidiary Moia, launched in 2016 to tackle autonomous transition.
The model also features Intel’s Mobileye self-driving technology (which includes cameras, sensors and LiDAR).
Volkswagen Group‘s CEO Oliver Blume said earlier this year that the series production of the ID Buzz AD will start next year.
By then, the company is expected to launch its robotaxi service in Los Angeles.
Sascha Meyer, Moia’s CEO, highlighted on Friday that “autonomous mobility ‘made in Europe’ is already a reality.”
Earlier this month, the European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen said that the continent’s automotive industry must focus on developing self-driving vehicles.
The EU chief aims for European automakers to be competitive among US and Chinese companies developing autonomous driving.
Last month, US ride-hailing company Uber and Chinese tech company Momenta announced they will also test Level 4 autonomous robotaxis with Uber in Munich, starting in 2026.
