• Volkswagen Group Research is testing automated vehicles in urban traffic in Hamburg. This is the first time Volkswagen has begun to test automated driving to Level 4 at real driving conditions in a major German city. From now, a fleet of five e-Golf, equipped with laser scanners, cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radars, will drive on a three-kilometer section of the digital test bed for automated and connected driving in the Hanseatic city. The results of the test drives, which will be continuously evaluated taking full account of all data protection rules, will be incorporated in the Group’s numerous research projects on automated driving, and will test customer-centric services and optimize individual transport. 

• Axel Heinrich, Head of Volkswagen Group Research, commented: “The tests center on technical possibilities as well as urban infrastructure requirements. In order to make driving even safer and more comfortable in future, vehicles not only have to become autonomous and more intelligent – cities must also provide a digital ecosystem that enables vehicles to communicate with traffic lights and traffic management systems as well as with one another.”

  A 9-kilometer digital test bed for automated and connected driving is currently being constructed in the city of Hamburg, with completion scheduled for 2020. To that end, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is successively upgrading traffic lights with components for infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. Volkswagen and the city of Hamburg are thus taking a decisive step to further optimizing traffic flows through digitalization and to full-size implementation of automated driving in the city area.

  Michael Westhagemann, Hamburg’s Senator for Economics, Transport and Innovation, said: “Two and a half years from now, Hamburg will be hosting the World Congress for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). Automated driving will play a key role. I am delighted that our strategic partner Volkswagen has already become the first user for our digital test bed. We will establish Hamburg as a model city for intelligent mobility and be presenting numerous innovative mobility projects to a global audience in 2021.”

  The e-Golf configured by Volkswagen Group Research have eleven laser scanners, seven radars and 14 cameras. Up to 5 gigabytes of data are communicated per minute during the regular test drives, each of which lasts several hours. Computing power equivalent to some 15 laptops is tucked away in the trunk of the e-Golf. This enormous computing capacity, combined with state-of-the-art sensor technology, ensures that data on pedestrians, cyclists, other cars, intersections, rights of way, parked vehicles and lane changes in moving traffic are captured over the shortest distances and in milliseconds. Despite the diversity and complexity of the information, the artificial intelligence used in the vehicle software must register all relevant objects and respond to them without triggering any false alarms. Several different artificial intelligence approaches are used: these include deep learning, neural networks and pattern recognition.

  For safety reasons, specially trained test drivers will be seated behind the steering wheel during all test drives in Hamburg to constantly monitor all driving functions and intervene in an emergency. Furthermore, all data protection rules will be fully taken into account. 

  Volkswagen Group Research is collaborating with all brands and relevant Group departments to enable the functionality of automated driving on public roads – right through to Level 5. The findings of this project will be successively incorporated in further research and development initiatives. The goal is to be in a position to offer customers concrete products for the automated transport of goods and passengers on public roads a few years from now. This will contribute to lasting improvements in traffic flows and road safety. However, automated driving without a safety driver in public traffic requires changes in the legislative framework and the availability of the necessary infrastructure. 

  The different levels of automated driving
  Level 1: Assisted driving
  Example: ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control)
  Level 2: Partial automation
  Example: Travel Assist (combination of adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist)
  Level 3: Conditional automation 
  Example: Traffic Jam Assist
  Level 4: High automation 
  Example: Park Pilot
  Level 5: Full automation
  Example: Fully self-driving transport

  Article source: http://www.volkswagenag.com

At the start of the pre-booking phase for its new full-electric ID. in Europe on May 8, Volkswagen is launching a broad-based international e-mobility marketing campaign. The campaign focuses especially on the ID. and is to start one year before the model’s market launch. Normally, large scale campaigns only start in connection with the launch of a model. This time, more than 600 individual communication elements are being produced for distribution on various channels. The key element and the umbrella campaign will be the “eManifesto: ID. Volkswagen, just electric”, which is to be shown on the occasion of the DFB cup final in Berlin on May 25 and will “electrify” more than 50 percent of the advertising space available in the German capital. Further elements of the campaign will be “influencer”, “barrier”, “teaser” and product films. As the heart of the campaign, the central information pool on e-mobility, the www.volkswagen.de/id website, will go live when pre-booking for the ID. starts. The highlight of the campaign will be the world premiere of the ID. at the IAA International Motor Show in Frankfurt. The media budget for the campaign in Europe will run well into the double-digit million range.

“For the fundamental transformation of Volkswagen towards e-mobility that we are currently accomplishing, we need an entirely new marketing approach,” Jochen Sengpiehl, Chief Marketing Officer of the Volkswagen brand, explains. “This is why we have not adopted a conventional market launch strategy for our ID. We are starting much earlier than usual and not only talking about the project. We are concerned with communicating a new movement. Volkswagen is now making e-mobility fit for the masses. This will be signaled by the claim of our campaign: “Now you can.”

The campaign was developed by Volkswagen’s new lead agency for Europe, Voltage. It is to be coordinated centrally from the ID. Launch House, located in Berlin and, based on an agile, highly-integrated working model, by Volkswagen in cooperation with its lead agencies, selected media and technology companies and Volkswagen’s most important markets for electric vehicles in Europe. In addition to the Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Sweden, these mainly include Germany, the UK, France, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark. Especially strong growth in electric vehicles is predicted for these markets which is why Volkswagen sees considerable potential for the ID. here.

The overall campaign consists of a total of five sub-campaigns. The key element and the umbrella campaign will be the eManifesto “ID. Volkswagen Just Electric”, which is to start with its first showing on TV on May 25 on the occasion of the DFB (German Football Association) cup final within the framework of Volkswagen’s partnership with DFB. With the manifesto, the brand intends to attract the attention of the general public for its development into the leading supplier of e-mobility and to promote its full-electric ID. family. The media mix will focus mainly on TV. Other channels will include posters (OOH), digital, printed media and cinemas. The eManifesto is to be used in eight EU countries (Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the UK, Sweden, Poland and Ireland).

The pre-communication phase was initiated a few weeks ago with “influencer” films; these are videos lasting about one minute in which influencers speak about sustainability topics in their lives and link them to e-mobility at Volkswagen. The four episodes are being shown solely on social media channels. Currently, three product teaser films can also be seen on these channels. In a maximum of 15 seconds each, these films highlight the smartlight, the front headlights and the silhouette of the ID. and draw attention to the upcoming pre-booking scheme for the ID.

During the pre-booking phase, “barrier” films are being launched in early May. Five of these films, up to 30 seconds long, have been developed solely for use on social and digital media. They are intended to combat common prejudices against e-mobility as regards price, charging times and range and show that e-mobility is already ready to move out of its niche into the general market. The campaign is supplemented by a seven-part series of product films which is being launched at the same time and will gradually provide further information on the ID., heightening anticipation in advance of the IAA.

In contrast to umbrella communications with the eManifesto, the other four parts of the campaign are intended mainly to address early adopters, i.e. people and especially families who place considerable value on sustainability, are concerned with topics such as their own power supplies and are considering the purchase of an electric vehicle. The four sub-campaigns will be used throughout Europe.

All the content of the entire campaign will be combined centrally on the ID. Hub – a new content platform that is to go live at the start of ID. pre-booking. “Will I get an electric shock if I charge an electric car in the rain?”, “How difficult is it to install a wall box for my home? – Questions such as these and many more will be answered by the ID. Hub, which Volkswagen has developed at the address www.volkswagen.de/id in the format of an online magazine and which is to provide information on all topics connected with e-mobility. In future, the ID. Hub is to be integrated in the new global Volkswagen website which will be strongly data-driven and will be characterized by a high degree of personalization and responsive design.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

Months before its official world premiere at the IAA international motor show, the next milestone has already been reached: Today, Volkswagen is officially announcing the name of the first model of the new ID. family. It will be called ID.31. The number 3 is significant in two ways. On the one hand, it indicates the ID. as belonging to the compact segment, which is the class distinction in both internal and industry-wide classification systems. On the other, the ID.3 follows the Beetle and the Golf to introduce the third major chapter of strategic importance for the history of the brand.

“With the ID.3, we are starting from the centre, the Volkswagen brand’s core, in which the majority of the models and sales volume can be found. The number 3 also signals expandability into the segments above and below it. We have a lot in the pipeline,” says Jürgen Stackmann, Member of the Board of Management Volkswagen Brand for Sales, Marketing & After Sales, offering a preview of Volkswagen’s e-mobility campaign. With this campaign, the brand is willing to become the number one brand globally by 2025, with more than 20 purely electrically driven models and more than a million vehicles sold annually, all of which being both networked and emission-free.

Every member of this model family will bear the name ID., which represents a new, independent series of products in the brand portfolio. While the Beetle once mobilized the masses, and the Golf as the class leader featured great innovations in each generation, the ID. will make e-mobility accessible to a broad spectrum of customers. The name ID. stands for intelligent design, identity and visionary technologies. 

Following the launch of the ID.3, additional models will roll out, such as those previewed by the concept cars ID. CROZZ, ID. VIZZION and ID. ROOMZZ, and which will in the future also be named with model numbers.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

For the market launch of the T-Cross, Volkswagen is embarking on a campaign for its latest SUV in Europe. The integrated 360° campaign includes a TV spot, printed and billboard advertisements as well as digital and social media content. The campaign face and testimonial of the T-Cross is Cara Delevingne. The claim #MoreThan1Thing describes the versatility of both the vehicle and its testimonial.

For Jürgen Stackmann, Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen brand responsible for Sales, Marketing and After-Sales, the 26-year-old Briton with her many and varied professions and passions is the ideal choice: “Cara Delevingne and the T-Cross are a perfect match: both are multi-faceted all-rounders – young, cool and versatile. Cara is the personification of the claim that we have developed for the T-Cross– ‘More than one thing‘. I am very pleased about this cooperation.“

Cara Delevingne has been among the best-known models for almost a decade and was also enjoyed success as a singer, actress, activist and businesswoman. In her private life, she enjoys surfing, is passionate about playing the drums and takes photographs. In Volkswagen’s new campaign, her versatility makes the T-Cross her ideal companion and she presents the multi-faceted nature of the vehicle in a creative and lively way.

Cara Delevingne says about the T-Cross: “I think the T-Cross reflects me and my personality in the way that it’s fun, it’s young, it’s diverse, it’s versatile, it can go from one thing to another as quick as you need it to go. … It’s fast and sleek and I mean…It’s everything.”

The new T-Cross is the latest addition to Volkswagen’s SUV family. Since its world premiere last fall, it has rounded off the brand’s SUV range in the small car segment. With its marked style, practicality, flexibility, connectivity and economics, the urban crossover model breaks new ground in its class in many respects. This versatility is the main focus of the 360° campaign under the hash tag #MoreThan1Thing. The campaign has been created and is being implemented by the agencies DDB Berlin, DDB Hamburg and adam&eve/DDB London.

The TV spot is to be shown throughout Europe from April. Selected content of the campaign can be found on the Volkswagen websites for the markets concerned.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com