get buzzy VW is testing its robotaxis in snowy, icy Norway A taxi service that only operates in good weather isn't a good taxi service. Jonathan M. Gitlin Mar 6, 2025 11:09 am | 7 Moia is operating some autonomous ID Buzzes in Oslo, although there are human safety drivers behind the wheel just in case. Credit: Moia Moia is operating some autonomous ID Buzzes in Oslo, although there are human safety drivers behind the wheel just in case. Credit: Moia Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThere's a reason that the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, were home to many autonomous vehicle programs: Driving on wide streets in great weather is easy mode for an AV. But a commercial robotaxi service that only works when the sun is shining is a commercial robotaxi service that will never recoup the billions it would cost to develop. That's why MoiaVolkswagen's AV divisionhas begun testing its autonomous ID Buzzes around the streets of Oslo, Norway, this winter.For a while, autonomous driving was the hottest thing in tech. That hype has certainly calmed down a lot over the last few years as reality began to bite. Developing an AV that can safely drive around unpredictable humans turned out to be pretty hard, with myriad edge cases needing to be solved differently for each new city.Startups have shut down, winnowing the field. Uber gave its AV program to Aurora, together with a rather fat investment check; Aurora these days is concentrating on autonomous trucking rather than robotaxis on busy city streets. VW, together with Ford, gave up on Argo AI. And General Motors killed off Cruise AV, seeing no way to make back the large pile of money it had already spent trying to make robotaxis work in San Francisco.Waymo is still making headwaylast week, I saw one of its I-Paces doing its thing (with a safety driver behind the wheel) here in Washington, DC, no less. Tesla claims it will start operating a commercial service in Austin, Texas, this year, which seems risible in light of that company's history of missed timelines and lax approach to public safety. And Moia is still gathering miles in Austin, as well as in Hamburg and Munich in Germany.And now Oslo."Users of mobility services expect a comfortable, reliable, and safe mode of transportregardless of the season and weather conditions. This remains especially true in the autonomous age," said Sascha Meyer, Moia's CEO. "To ensure that people worldwide can reliably experience our autonomous vehicles, we are making the technology winter-proof. The ability to drive safely under extreme weather conditions is a fundamental prerequisite for the long-term economic success of our offering in Europe and North America."Moia wants to deploy a commercial robotaxi service in Hamburg next year.Jonathan M. GitlinAutomotive EditorJonathan M. GitlinAutomotive Editor Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC. 7 Comments