Berlin, Hamburg and Munich join forces on autonomous shuttles

Berlin's BVG, Hamburg's Hochbahn, and Munich's MVG have formed a strategic partnership to jointly shape urban mobility. The alliance aims to create synergies and set standards. The focus of the cooperation between Germany's three largest local transport companies is autonomous driving. The three cities plan to integrate up to 2,000 robo-shuttles into their local transport systems by 2035. These self-driving buses will complement the existing service.

Another area of the partnership is the development of a mobility platform, which the participants have grandly announced under the title "MAX": a joint and comprehensive app is to bundle access to buses, trains, and other transport services. BVG and MVG are currently relying on the equipment supplier Trafi – still with individual applications. The distribution systems are also to be standardized, unified, and digitized to enable simple, supraregional use. This could serve as a model for the entire industry.

Initial experience has already been gained

The agreement takes effect immediately and is open-ended. A steering committee will coordinate the collaboration to avoid duplication of work and implement the joint goals step by step by 2035.

In Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg, there have been and continue to be projects in which autonomous shuttles have been or are being tested in public transport. These are usually pilot projects.

The BVG, for example, has been running autonomous minibuses on the "See-Meile"(Lake Mile ). In Munich, the "Minga" research initiative is underway. The aim is to automate regular buses and on-demand vehicles. Hochbahn and VW subsidiary Moia are pushing ahead with the "Alike" project. It is intended to help integrate autonomous carpooling into public transport. Hamburg originally wanted to have up to 10,000 autonomous shuttles on its roads by 2030, which was apparently too ambitious.

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