What's the news?
Volkswagen will show the fourth member of its all-electric ID concept car family at the Geneva motor show, and it will be called the ID Vizzion.
Previewed by these highly stylised sketches, the Vizzion is a 5.1-metre luxury car, with seats for four and no steering wheel. No steering wheel? Nope, it's Level 5 autonomous driving capable, says Volkswagen, and is so fully autonomous that the German car maker says "use of this car will be made possible for customer groups who cannot drive today, e.g. because of their age." We presume that means older, infirm people could use it, but it also implies that here is a car that could do the school run all by itself.
Underneath, the Vizzion uses the longest version of the MEB electric car platform yet, and uses a pair of electric motors for four-wheel drive, but with a slightly low-key 300hp output. The battery is seriously big though - 111kWh, which Volkswagen claims gives the Vizzion a one-charge range of 655km. The top speed is 180km/h.
The car's software boasts both a 'digital chauffeur' which takes care of all the actual driving, and a 'virtual host' which runs the infotainment and heating systems, and which can recognise voice commands and interacts with the passengers, knowing their preferences for music, temperature, and other settings.
As with the other ID concepts, the Vizzion is part of Volkswagen's plans to have major expansion of its electric car lineup, and have 20 all-electric models on sale by 2025.