Innovative technologies open up new opportunities for more efficient transport and improve people's quality of life: one major theme for ITS members is connecting vehicles in circulation with one another as well as with the latest traffic information, thus making optimal use of roads, parking spaces and energy. Car-pooling, e-mobility and automated driving also play an important role in this context and help relieve the strain on roads, cities and the environment.
That is why the Volkswagen Group joined ERTICO – ITS Europe this spring, a network of over 100 partners who are currently exchanging information and experience on smart mobility solutions at the ITS European Congress.
At the same time, the Volkswagen Group and its partner city, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, have submitted a bid to host the 2021 ITS World Congress. Under their strategic mobility partnership concluded in 2016, the partners have joined forces to shape the urban mobility of the future and to develop the city as a model for forward-looking, sustainable and integrated urban mobility. To this end, intelligent mobility solutions for both personal mobility and freight transport are to be brought together in an integrated approach.
Ludger Fretzen, Head of Group Strategy for New Business at the Volkswagen Group, commented: "The goal of the Group's ‘TOGETHER– Strategy 2025' is to make the transformation from a car manufacturer to a mobility provider. This also includes making mobility more comfortable, safer and more sustainable for our customers. That is why we are stepping up our activities in the field of new, intelligent mobility solutions – in collaboration with cities, public institutions, researchers, associations and other car makers."
The Volkswagen Group's e-mobility offensive is a key building block in this engagement in intelligent transport systems: the Group will be launching more than ten new electrified models by the end of 2018. A further 30 purely battery-powered vehicles will follow in the period to 2025. Spearheaded by Porsche, the Group is driving the expansion of a fast-charging infrastructure for electric cars. "Sedric", the Volkswagen Group's concept car, gave a glimpse of autonomous driving of the future. Audi recently founded a new subsidiary, Autonomous Intelligent Driving GmbH, to work on a system for autonomous vehicles for the entire Group. MOIA, the Volkswagen Group's new company for mobility services committed to individual mobility solutions such as ride hailing via app and car-pooling, will also play a decisive role in ITS.