Those of you who are frequent users of or visitors to Amazon
are probably familiar with the company's "Dash" button,
the little device with a particular product's logo (e.g., Tide)
and a circular area that is pushed. When that is activated, it
communicates via Wi-Fi to the Amazon Shopping app and
before too very long (well, days, not minutes) a box of Tide is
delivered to your door.
Which brings us to Sedric, Volkswagen Group's concept
Level 5 autonomous vehicle. It is summoned, explained
Matthias Müller, CEO of the Volkswagen Group, upon
introducing the vehicle at the Geneva Motor Show, by pushing
what they're calling "the OneButton." There is a circular blue
light that shows the proximity of the autonomous vehicle as it
approaches the summoner.
The vehicle was developed at the Volkswagen Group
Future Center in Potsdam, with researchers, engineers and
technicians there working with colleagues at Volkswagen
Group Research in Wolfsburg. Notably, there are a whole lot
of Volkswagen operations that have been established from
Silicon Valley to Beijing, competence centers and digital labs
where work is underway to develop the tools necessary—from
batteries to artificial intelligence—to advance the states of
mobility and autonomy.
Let Sedric Do
the Driving
VW Group is advancing what could
become the vehicle that comes to
you at the push of a button.
BY GARY S. VASILASH, Editor-In-Chief
The OneButton can be used to summon
Sedric, the Level 5 (no steering wheel, no
pedals) vehicle developed by Volkswagen
Group. As a concept, that is.
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