All Press Releases

No, we are not standing at the traffic lights or playing hopscotch. What we can see here is referred to by experts as automation without safety barriers. In the background, an industrial robot is moving and in front of it we can see a pattern of lights with green, yellow and red areas. Group employee Karl-Heinz Häfner moves confidently towards the robot and is still in the green zone. As soon as he touches the first yellow area with his foot, the robot slows down. When the worker reaches the red zone, the robot stops abruptly. If Häfner moves his foot back out of the red zone, the robot starts to move again. What we can see here is a unique development within the Volkswagen Group: a human being can work absolutely safely in the immediate vicinity of an industrial robot without being separated by a fixed safety barrier. This is possible as a result of the laser safety scanner which reliably detects any movements of the employee. A high-level control system coordinates the movements of the human worker and the robot, slowing and stopping the robot as soon as the worker enters the relevant safety zones.

Volkswagen has drawn the first consequences in connection with the animal tests financed by the European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector (EUGT e.V., Europäische Forschungsvereinigung für Umwelt und Gesundheit im Transportsektor). At its meeting today, the Board of Management accepted the proposal made by Dr. Thomas Steg, Head of Group External Relations and Sustainability, that he be suspended.

The decision has been made: from 2019, auto parts for the Volkswagen Group are to be packed and prepared for the delivery to countries such as Mexico, China and the USA at the Jade-Weser-Port in Wilhelmshaven. With the new packaging center, the Volkswagen Group is reacting to the growing demand for vehicles on overseas markets. As a result, more and more parts such as headlamps, audio systems or steering wheels need to be exported for local production. The Volkswagen Group has selected a new location near the Jade-Weser-Port for a facility to pack these new volumes.

The Volkswagen Truck & Bus Group sold around 205,000 vehicles of its MAN, Scania, and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus brands in fiscal 2017, up 12% on the (solid) prior-year level. All three brands have been able to increase their sales and make a positive contribution to the success of the Group.

The Volkswagen Group is expanding its IT know-how for the development of digital customer offerings. Group IT has significantly strengthened its Digital Lab in Berlin and has doubled the number of employees since the Lab was inaugurated in October 2016. Currently, some 70 IT specialists work there and the team is due to expand to about 120. Team members include programmers, data scientists, software designers and developers; they are working on topics such as new services for the networked vehicle. The Digital Lab is part of a worldwide network of competence centers where the Volkswagen Group is stepping up its involvement in all future-oriented digital fields.

Today, the Volkswagen Group and leading self-driving technology company, Aurora, announced a strategic partnership that brings the two companies together to bring self-driving electric vehicles to cities as Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) fleets.

The Volkswagen Group is consistently expanding its activities in the field of sustainability. From January 1, 2018, the new Head of Group Sustainability is to be Ralf Pfitzner. In this function, he succeeds Dr. Gerhard Prätorius, who is to focus entirely on the coordination of the Volkswagen Group's International Sustainability Council and the implementation of the projects proposed by the Sustainability Council from January onwards.

New York-based contemporary art institution MoMA PS1 has announced details for twelve new VW Sunday Sessions programs which will take place in 2018. The acclaimed series of live programs  includes performance, music, dance, conversations, and film, vividly demonstrating how these art forms can push artists to engage with our contemporary world in creative, illuminating ways. From January until April 2018, these newly announced programs will provide audiences with manifold opportunities to actively engage with innovative expressions of contemporary art.

The environmental incentive of the Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA, Volkswagen and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brands in Germany has been extended. With slightly adjusted conditions, the brands of the Volkswagen Group now offer owners of EU 1 to EU 4 vehicles the possibility of changing over to a new vehicle meeting the latest environmental, technical and safety standards from January 1 to March 31, 2018. Thanks to the environmental incentive, a significant contribution to improved air quality has already been made: to date, more than 110,000 customers in Germany have claimed the environmental incentive offered by Volkswagen Group brands.