Volkswagen’s high-tech Trinity EV project is the first car that the company has “developed from the inside out”, with an emphasis on interior design, due to its focus on offering autonomous driving systems, according to company bosses.
The production car resulting from the Trinity project is slated for 2026 and is expected to take the form of an elegant four-door sedan. It will be one of the first models built on the new SSP architecture planned by the Volkswagen Group and using a new generation software system.
Trinity will initially launch with advanced level 3 driver assistance systems (allowing it to drive itself with a driver capable of intervening), with a plan to upgrade to level 4 (fully autonomous, without human intervention required) by around 2030. .
Due to the emphasis on autonomous driving, Volkswagen sales manager Klaus Zellmer said that with Trinity, “for the first time, we are developing a car from the inside out”, in focusing on maximizing interior space to allow multiple uses for passengers. .
“Trinity is doing a lot of new things,” Zellmer said. “It’s about architecture, and our goal is to define it by deciding what we’re going to do in the car for our customers.
“We call Trinity a time machine because it will bring us to autonomous driving and free you up time. Trinity is a companion for life: for leisure, family time, etc.
Early sketches of design proposals for Trinity’s interior suggest that it will make maximum use of the stretched dimensions allowed by an EV skateboard chassis, with a minimized dashboard and reclining front seats when the driver is not in control of the car. . No steering wheel is visible in the sketch, which suggests that VW is considering a concept car type retractable steering wheel.
Volkswagen has not yet detailed the details of the autonomous systems with which Trinity will be launched and which will then be offered via live updates. VW Development Director Thomas Ulbrich said this was in part due to the lack of specific legislation for the use of advanced driver assistance systems.
Ulbrich said more dialogue is needed between governments and automakers on the scope of laws and regulations that will govern self-driving cars on the road.
“Governments have to be willing and able to listen to us and talk to us, because we can only do it together,” Ulbrich said. “There are no regulations for autonomous driving and we need interactions between policy makers and the auto industry because things have to fit together.
“Highly automated autonomous driving technology will develop between the middle of this decade and the next decade: we [the industry and governments] can define it together and develop it step by step.
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-06-10 10:56:19
