RABus: Real-life laboratory for Automated Bus Operation in Public Transport in urban and rural areas

Public transport in Baden-Württemberg becomes autonomous: as part of the project RABus – Real-life laboratory for automated bus operation in public transport in cities and rural areas, public transportation services using electrified and automated vehicles will be established by the end of 2024. The goal is to establish passenger transportation services in the real-life laboratories in Friedrichshafen and Mannheim that can be operated profitably by public transport companies and are attractive to users.

To prepare for the shuttle service, test runs with an electric test vehicle are planned in Mannheim as of fall/winter 2022. The vehicle's exterior differs only slightly from that of a conventional vehicle, but the interior uses state-of-the-art technology as required for autonomous driving. The goal of the tests is to cover as many sections as possible automatically and without the intervention of the safety driver. The structural requirements for this, including adjustments to the infrastructure, will be installed and tested in parallel.