Volkswagen uses anonymous vehicle data to improve road safety in Europe

Volkswagen Group plans to enhance road safety across Europe by leveraging anonymous data collected from customer vehicles. Following a pilot program in Germany, the company will expand the initiative to approximately 40 European countries. The rollout is scheduled to begin in January, starting with Volkswagen passenger cars before gradually including Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge, Audi, Cupra, Skoda, and Porsche models.

Real-world driving data will help fine-tune driver assistance systems and automated functions. Improvements will be delivered to vehicles through over-the-air software updates.

Developers will focus on complex scenarios where these assistants prove most valuable: intersections near schools, areas with pedestrians and cyclists, and busy parking lots. Data transmission can be triggered by emergency braking system activation, sudden manual braking, or abrupt obstacle avoidance maneuvers. This includes camera images, sensor data, speed, direction, steering angle, as well as weather and lighting conditions.

Volkswagen emphasizes that there is no continuous data transmission, and participation requires customer consent that can be withdrawn at any time.