Autonomous driving: Federal government funds 17 shuttle transport projects
The Ministry of Research, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are funding research projects for autonomous driving.
A shuttle from the MINGA project.
(Image: MVG)
The German government is currently funding 17 projects in which highly automated shuttle transportation is being developed. This is according to a government response to a small question from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag. The Ministry of Economic Affairs (BMWK) is responsible for five of these projects, while the Ministry of Transport (BMDV) is responsible for the others.
In the MINGA project in Munich, for example, the municipal utilities there and the Munich Transport Company (MVG) are exploring ride pooling, in which several people with similar destinations join together in one vehicle. The "Shuttle Model Region Upper Franconia" (Shuttle-Modellregion Oberfranken, SMOII), which was already mentioned in a government response to a similar request two years ago, is also involved. At that time, the government ascribed 13 projects the potential to be suitable for real road traffic. It now considers this to be the case for all 17 funded projects.
Various subsidies
According to its response (PDF), the federal government has several instruments for promoting autonomous driving: 12.3 million euros over three years for the "C2CBridge - Country to City Bridge" project in Baden-Württemberg and 127.7 million euros across the federal states via the "Autonomous and connected driving in public transport" funding guideline. In addition, there is 112.7 million euros for the research funding program "Electronics and software development methods for the digitalization of automobility" in Mannheim and 78.5 million euros for the national funding program "New vehicle and system technologies". According to the government, there are also various open-application funding guidelines in which research projects on individual technology components of autonomous driving can be funded.
"C2CBridge" aims to enable a door-to-door mobility service, explains the government. The aim is to build a bridge between the transport services typical of urban and rural areas, to make sustainable means of transport universally usable despite the heterogeneity in spatial structure and mobility needs. Further funding guidelines and measures will not differentiate between inner cities, metropolitan regions and rural areas.
(anw)