Volkswagen isn't quite at the forefront of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), alongside brands like Tesla, GM, and Mercedes. For the most part, if you owned a VW, you were driving it entirely on your own. However, the VW ID.Buzz is now getting a new suite of ADAS tech called IQ.Drive. It's by far the most advanced set of driver aids the brand has ever had.
The big new tech items in VW's lineup are Travel Assist, Emergency Assist Plus, Predictive Active Cruise Control (pACC), and Road Experience Management (REM). Only the ID.Buzz gets the latter, but the rest of VW's new safety tech package is available on the Tiguan, Golf, and Atlas family of vehicles. Basically, anything on either the MQB Evo or MEB platforms gets IQ.Drive.
VW's pACC is really just an improved version of the ACC Volkswagen already had, and it has some new functions. For instance, it's now capable of handling off-ramps, so it can change lanes into the exit ramp and slow down to exit speed. It also has automatic speed adjustment, based on traffic, and can will prompt the driver before a speed increase, so they can either accept or deny it.
Travel Assist is a bigger deal, though, integrating more capability. Its main job is to help drivers change lanes hands-free while using pACC. The driver simply uses the turn signal to choose which direction they want to change lanes into, and then the car will look for an opening in traffic and initiate the move when it's safe. When the lane change is first initiated, a green flashing arrow will appear in the Digital Cockpit and wait for 12 seconds to find a safe gap in traffic. If traffic is blocking a lane change, a red hash will appear until it can safely do it, and then it'll turn green again.
Photo by: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs
While using Lane Assist, if the car detects multiple lane departure events in a row without driver intervention, it's going to think something is wrong and give visual and audible warnings before engaging. If those warnings aren't heeded, the car will begin pulling over to the side of the road. While using Travel Assist, if the emergency system doesn't detect driver steering input for 25 seconds, it will honk the horn, jerk the brakes three times, and tighten the seatbelt to alert the driver.
If that doesn't work, it'll pull itself over, as long as it's safe to do so. Once the car is pulled over to the shoulder, it puts itself in park, turns the hazards on, honks the horn, unlocks the doors, turns on the interior lights, and calls emergency services.
Specifically for the ID.Buzz, though, REM is only available with VW's In-Vehicle Premium subscription plan. It uses cloud-based data gathered from real-world users' camera data, so it can learn and map things like lane markings street lights, and road signs. That way, it has digital mapping of where it is, even if the vehicle's cameras can't see. So if lane markers are worn down or bad weather disrupts the cameras, it still knows where it is on the road.
This new IQ.Drive package is a big leap for VW's ADAS tech, as it's far more capable than ever before. It's still not offering hands-free highway driving or point-to-point supervised driving like some other brands, but it's a big improvement, especially for the electric ID.Buzz.