Geneva Motor Show 2017: VW’s Sedric is a robo-taxi vision of the future

Volkswagen's vision of the future now stretches from partially robotic revivals of the classic 1960s Microbus to this, the Sedric, an oddly named wheeled pod that looks more like a motorised Tetra Pak than a car.

Of course, that's the point: it's not a car, or at least not in any way that we would recognise. It's a fully-automated, self-driving electric transport (it is designed around "Level Five" autonomy, which requires no human input other than a destination) and suggests that VW has either been looking deep into the future, or that Wolfsburg's engineers have been watching a Minority Report DVD on hard rotation.

The Sedric (presumably not named in homage to Nissan’s boxy 1990s Cedric saloon) is designed not to fit in with VW’s existing car range, but to be purpose designed for ride-providing services such as Gett (in which VW has invested) and MOIA, the German car-maker’s own recently launched in-house ride-sharing and mobility brand, although it could theoretically be bought and owned outright by an individual owner too.

Electric motor

VW says that the Sedric uses a 136hp electric motor and has a claimed one-charge range of around 400km, neither of which will matter a jot to those inside, because who cares what engine or how much fuel is in the tank of the taxi you’ve just stepped into?

It deploys a massive battery of sensors to read the environment around it, including no fewer than five LIDAR sensors (which combine laser scanning with radar and which cost a hefty $10,000 apiece), seven cameras, and other radar and microwave sensors.

It’s summoned by a simple push of a fob button, which uses a colour-coded countdown to its arrival, and which can vibrate to help those with poor vision find the right pod to step into. Inside is a four-seat layout: two fixed in a bench, and two with London taxi-style flip-up seat bases which can be folded away to allow disabled access or leave room for a baby buggy.

The four seats face each other, and there’s a flat floor, covered in a wood veneer. There are even bamboo-based air filters and actual growing plants mounted close to the screens to purify and oxygenate the air inside. The windscreen is a huge OLED screen which can either offer augmented reality information about the outside world, or act as an entertainment centre. Outside, the lights mounted in the front panel can wink and move to alert pedestrians that the car has “seen” them and logged their position.

On-sale dates

VW isn’t giving any specific on-sale dates for the concept, nor even suggesting a timeframe for its development, but rivals such as Mercedes and Ford have suggested that Level Five autonomy is at least a decade away, possibly even longer. Volkswagen has committed to investing billions of euro in the research and development of both electric and autonomous vehicles.

“The biggest process of change in the history of the Volkswagen Group was launched with the future program “Together – Strategy 2025”. This group strategy paves the way for one of the world’s best automobile manufacturers to become one of the leading global providers of sustainable mobility. “The transformation of the core business and the new Mobility Solutions Divisions are the foundation for the growth of tomorrow,” said VW in a statement.

“In the future, fully automated vehicles will enrich the mobility experience of many people. A mobility concept based on intensively used vehicles will take up less space, will consume less energy, and will be safer and more sustainable at the same time. And the concept offers tailor-made mobility for everyone: adults and children, retirees and people with physical disabilities, city people who do not have their own car or a driving license, and visitors in a new city and suddenly decide they want to get from A to B in a convenient mobility setting.”