By Steven Symes 
Most people still haven’t seen the Volkswagen ID Buzz in the wild, but soon enough you could see one working as an Uber robotaxi. The automaker and ride hailing service recently announced they’re collaborating on an autonomous taxi service.
Once again, Waymo robotaxis are keeping people awake at night.
For those who haven’t been paying attention, this is a shock. But Uber has been pushing into the robotaxi market for a while now, with customers in Phoenix, Arizona enjoying the driverless service for well over a year. That’s been expanded to Austin and will be available in Atlanta this summer.
But the collaboration with Volkswagen will give Uber a retro cool vibe as all-electric ID Buzz AD vehicles will pick up customers, while wowing observers. After all, the new model is patterned after the storied Microbus and believe it or not, many normies have no idea it’s a thing.
Even though it might sound silly to you, we’d bet some people would choose Uber’s service just to have a chance to ride in the ID Buzz. After all, it has that throwback design some will just think is too cool to pass up.
What’s more, the ID Buzz has something many other robotaxis don’t: three rows. Volkswagen makes them in six and seven-seaters, but we’re not sure if Uber will allow people to ride in the front. Plus for the first while, a human driver will be along for the ride, able to take over if the autonomous drive system screws up.
Still, for larger groups like families, that’s better than just three seats squished together in the back, or having to hail and pay for two robotaxis.
The first market to get the Uber VW ID Buzz robotaxis will be Los Angeles, California with testing starting in late 2025. Sometime next year is when the public will be able to use the service.
Uber is still using human drivers and their private vehicles, so this move isn’t changing that service. Instead, the company seems to be trying to round out its ride hailing offerings more as some customers prefer not having to make small talk or otherwise deal with a live driver.
Image via Volkswagen