Certainly, here’s the rewritten article:
—
**In brief:** Volkswagen’s autonomous mobility subsidiary, MOIA America, and Uber have begun road testing in Los Angeles, using around 10 autonomous ID. Buzz vehicles. This marks the start of a plan to offer commercial rides with human safety operators by late 2026 and fully driverless service in 2027. Los Angeles is the inaugural US city in a planned multi-city expansion over the coming decade.
Volkswagen and Uber’s collaboration sees the first ID. Buzz AD vehicles hitting the streets of Los Angeles a year after their partnership was announced. Operating under MOIA America in the US, Volkswagen aims to deploy over 100 vehicles in the city for validation before commencing commercial services. The test fleet includes human safety operators, adhering to California’s regulatory requirements before passenger fares can be charged.
**Vehicle Specifications:** The ID. Buzz AD differs from the consumer model sold by Volkswagen. It features a 27-sensor suite comprising 13 cameras, nine LiDAR units, and five radars. This data is processed by a Mobileye computer using the Mobileye Drive platform. Mobileye is responsible for the vehicle’s software, hardware, and digital mapping, following Volkswagen’s 2022 cessation with Argo AI.
The vehicle, seating up to six passengers and equipped with powered sliding doors, was unveiled in a series production configuration in 2025 and is manufactured at Volkswagen’s Hanover plant.
**Path to Commercial Operations:** MOIA America must secure both a commercial deployment permit from the California DMV and a ride-hailing permit from the California Public Utilities Commission before passenger fares can be collected. The current testing stage includes safety operators and serves as both a technical validation and a demonstration for regulatory scrutiny.
The timeline aims for an expansion from about 10 vehicles to over 100 with safety operators by late 2026, moving to a fully driverless service in 2027. MOIA America plans to scale to over 500 vehicles in Los Angeles by Q3 2027 and deploy more than 1,000 in other US cities thereafter.
Paul DeLong, MOIA America’s president of commercialization, explained that Los Angeles was chosen due to its car culture and adoption of new mobility technologies. The collaboration with Uber is key to the plan, leveraging Uber’s existing platform. Sascha Meyer, Volkswagen Autonomous Mobility’s CCO, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi emphasized the significance of this deployment in advancing autonomous mobility.
**Why Los Angeles?** The city is already an established market for autonomous services, with Waymo operating fully driverless rides since 2024. MOIA will set a performance benchmark against existing services and offer a direct comparison for riders.
MOIA’s prior experience in Hamburg, where it has been running a ride-pooling service since 2019, provides operational data and insights for its autonomous vehicle deployment. The ID. Buzz AD platform’s use in the Hamburg program informs its Los Angeles introduction.
**Uber’s Role:** Uber has shifted to being a distribution facilitator for autonomous vehicles, forming partnerships with capable suppliers rather than developing its technology. This includes Motional in Las Vegas and a collaboration with Wayve and Nissan in Tokyo. MOIA America’s Los Angeles deployment adds another dimension to Uber’s strategy.
Uber provides demand, brand strength, and logistics, while its partner contributes vehicles and tech. Uber’s infrastructure, including its AI partnership with AWS, supports dispatch and vehicle management across a growing multi-partner network. The ID. Buzz vehicles in Los Angeles are part of Uber’s incremental, city-by-city assembly of its autonomous platform.