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Der HOLON-Shuttle Mover im HOCHBAHN-Design

Autonomous on-demand shuttles

HOCHBAHN and HOLON connect Hamburg flexibly and emission-free

How we want to supplement public transport with autonomous minibuses and create the mobility transition

Within just five minutes, all Hamburg residents should be able to get a mobility service that suits them by 2030. This is the plan of the Hamburg-Takt. The backbone for this is, of course, our buses and trains in the hvv network. But we will not be able to achieve the mobility transition with these alone. We need another flexible service to complement classic public transport: on-demand shuttles.


That's why HOCHBAHN is working with the producer HOLON, a member of the globally operating Benteler Group, to bring autonomous minibuses to Hamburg's streets as early as 2024.


Five metres long, room for 15 people and travelling at up to 60 km/h. Sounds like a agile minibus that should feel just as comfortable in Hamburg's city traffic as it does in narrow neighbourhood streets. But the special features of the HOLON Mover, as the vehicle is called, are primarily different: autonomous and emission-free. In the future, it will be bookable via app and move the people of this city in a very flexible and climate-friendly way. With an operating concept that is independent of fixed routes and timetables, such on-demand vehicles are an important supplement to buses, trains and ferries.

Up to 10,000 on-demand shuttles in Hamburg as early as 2030


From 2024, the first movers are to drive through Hamburg on a test basis and series vehicles are to be built from 2025. By 2030, up to 10,000 autonomous on-demand shuttles from different providers could be on the road in public transport throughout the entire city.


The pilot operation from 2024, in which a vehicle escort will still be on board, is initially intended to gather important experience for later operation and to create the conditions for the legal framework for autonomous vehicles.

HOCHBAHN has already demonstrated how an automated minibus can function in urban traffic with the HEAT project in HafenCity from 2019 to 2021. The project was one of the first in the world to implement autonomous driving in local public transport on a defined route without planned intervention by driving personnel. With the Mover from HOLON, the step into regular operation is now to be taken.