Volkswagen looks past costly emissions scandal, unveils self-driving car

Looking well beyond its past problems, Volkswagen is projecting into the future with its self-driving concept car featuring technologies that could someday work their way into the German automaker's brands like Audi, Bentley or Porsche. After a cheeky video riffing off Star Trek, Harry Potter and other pop-culture icons, CEO Matthias Mueller presented VW's first self-driving car, known as Sedric, yesterday for a Geneva Auto Show media day. Sedric is fully electric, connected and autonomous, and picks up passengers at the touch of a button. The vehicle looks like a futuristic travel pod: No steering wheel, pedals or controls. Volkswagen has a badly dented image following the revelation that nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles deliberately circumvented U.S. emissions tests, and court cases continue against it.