Ever ridden in a car that drives itself? I have!
I just returned from a trip to Palo Alto to support the Volkswagen North America team as they held a dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony for the brand new VAIL facility on the Stanford University campus. VAIL – theVolkswagen Group Automotive Innovation Laboratory— is a joint research and development facility that is a collaboration between Volkswagen and the Stanford School of Engineering.
The 8,000 suqare foot facility features seven bays, a full machine shop, driving simulator, two conference rooms and a presentation room. Oh, and did I mention the six vehicles on display, including the robotic Pike’s Peak Audi TTS Coupe (Shelley), the Solar Car “Apogee,” the hydrogen fuel cell-powered Touran HyMotin and the Clean Air Audi A8.
Opening remarks were made by Dean Jim Plummer of Stanford School of Engineering, followed by remarks by David Geanacopoulos, EVP for Public Affairs and General Counsel of Volkswagen Group of America, and Dr.Karl-Thomas Neumann, Chief Officer for Electric Traction at Volkswagen Group.
The ribbon cutting and formal dedication was done by honored guest, German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In Chancellor Merkel’s speech, she commended the VW Engineers and Stanford students at VAIL for their collaboration in developing automobiles of the future. She took a tour of the VAIL facility and got a chance to interact with some of the Engineering students and learn about the projects they are working on.
Also in attendance to catch all the action were press and analysts from outlets like Associated Press, Reuters, Autoblog, Bloomberg News, CNet, Fast Company, MarketWatch, Gartner, San Francisco Chronicle and Technologizer.
After touring the VAIL facility, Chancellor Merkel helped out with a demo of the Autonomous Vehicle, a car developed by VW/Stanford that drives itself with a tap on an iPhone (yes—apparently there’s even an app for that!). The demo was with Junior 2, a robotic Volkswagen Passat, which we watched pull out of a driveway then back into a parking spot with nobody behind the wheel.
One of the highlights of my day was getting to sit in the backseat of Junior 2 and taking a test drive. It was bazaar to see the wheel move on its own and see the minor adjustments that were made according to the trunk full of lasers and sensors. I think my car insurance rates would go down if I could drive with the help of Junior 2 more often…
Here are some photos I took:
The Solar Car, “Apogee” which raced across Australia (north to south) last fall going up to 180km/hr powered completely by solar energy. 
Junior 1, a robotic Volkswagen Passat with the on-board sensors, computing hardware and artificial intelligence software to drive in urban traffic without any human assistance. Check out all those wires, bells and whistles!
Shelley, the Pike’s Peak Audi TTS coupe that drives itself at the limits of handling and friction to help researchers develop and refine control algorithms that can improve driver safety. This fall, the team hopes to test it’s ability to hold the road at high speeds on the famous Pike’s Peak mountain race course.
We live-Tweeted during the event and the Tweets can be found @Volkswagen. In addition, here are some stories with great photos and video that have run so far:
Here is a video of my new friend, David Hoffert, Ph.D. Student, Mechanical Engineering Researcher and Dynamic Design Laboratory Kunzel Fellow at Stanford Universtiy, who spent time speaking with me about his work on Shelley.
