vhh.mobility, IAV and eVersum are Developing an Autonomous Shuttle for Public Transport in Hamburg

­The first autonomous vehicle is to roll through the streets of Harburg in 2025: This was agreed today by vhh.mobility (Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein) and IAV (Ingenieurgesellschaft Auto und Verkehr). Germany's third-largest municipal bus operator and IAV, one of the leading development partners of the automotive industry, have agreed to a research and development cooperation for this purpose. The partner for the construction and supply of the autonomous shuttles is the vehicle developer eVersum, a pioneer in the field of autonomous electric commercial vehicles.

A total of five vehicles will be developed and supplied as part of the cooperation. The first vehicle with a safety driver on board is scheduled to go into test operation on Harburg's streets in the second half of 2025. In the following months, all the other shuttles will gradually be put into operation and start serving in the fleet of the hvv hop on-demand service in Hamburg-Harburg. In the future, the number of autonomous vehicles is to be increased to up to 20.

Dr. Anjes Tjarks, Senator for Transport and Mobility Transition in Hamburg: "Together with our partners, we are doing pioneering work in Hamburg to develop the public transport system of the future. Through the cooperation between vhh mobility, IAV, eVersum, the federal government and the city, we are taking a further important step towards developing and establishing an additional pillar of public transport in the south of Hamburg. Hamburg is a pioneer here – we are not only further developing autonomous driving in the urban center, but also in the outer districts, thus ensuring that all areas of the city are even more closely connected in terms of traffic by modern, innovative mobility offers."

Dr. Lorenz Kasch, Managing Director of vhh.mobility: "The road ahead for fully autonomous shuttles as part of public transport in Germany is still a long one and real pioneering work. Today, we have taken a big step towards this goal. We look forward to working with IAV and eVersum to jointly advance this innovative and future-oriented mobility offering for the people in the Hamburg metropolitan region."

Carsten Rinka, Chief Sales and Projects Officer at IAV: "We are proud to be at the forefront of the mobility revolution together with our partners vhh.mobility and eVersum. With our intelligent solutions, we are driving autonomous driving forward and creating innovative mobility offers that rethink public transport. This project is another significant step towards sustainable and future-proof mobility".

Holger Postl, Managing Director of eVersum: "The basis for the autonomous shuttles in the ahoi project is eVersum's modular eShuttle in the 6.90-meter-long version with nine seats and additional space for a wheelchair or stroller. After the first successful deployments of such semi-autonomous vehicles in Mannheim and Friedrichshafen, we are very much looking forward to working with vhh.mobility and IAV to bring as many passengers as possible to their destination safely and comfortably."

Pioneering work – autonomous driving without a safety driver
The objective of the ahoi project (which stands for the Automation of the Hamburg On-Demand Service with Integration into Public Transport) is to operate the autonomous vehicles at what is known as level 4, where the vehicles transport their passengers safely and quickly from A to B without a driver. This is a use case that involves absolutely pioneering work and has not yet been realized in Germany. Mobility experts consider autonomously operated means of transport to be a promising approach to implementing the mobility turnaround, particularly in view of challenges such as the shortage of skilled workers and the economic operation of public transport. The Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport is supporting the project with around 18 million euros.

"When the vehicles are delivered, we will begin test operations with safety drivers on board and no passengers in the second phase of the ahoi project," explains Lorenz Kasch. "As soon as all requirements have been developed to our satisfaction, we will then open scheduled operations with the autonomous vehicles for our passengers in the Harburg service area in phase 3 – and this in addition to the manually controlled hvv hop shuttles."

Harburg is perfectly suited for the use of on-demand transport
The basis for the operation with autonomous vehicles in the ahoi project is hvv hop, which was introduced in 2018 as Germany's first suburban on-demand service and was awarded the German Mobility Prize in 2019. hvv hop has already transported over 1.5 million passengers across all service areas. In Harburg, hvv hop is also very popular: Since its launch in January 2023, more than 340,000 passengers have already been brought to their destination.

After a careful analysis, the Harburg district was selected as the project area. The urban area has an extensive range of transport options, including S-Bahn and bus lines. However, the district has areas that are not yet sufficiently served by public transport. “Under these conditions, the use of a flexible and innovative on-demand service makes sense, closing gaps in the public transport network and offering an alternative to private cars, thus connecting even more people to the existing public transport network,” says Kasch. "We are very pleased that hvv hop has been so well received and would now like to take the service to the next level together with our partners: hvv hop will become autonomous."