DEUTSCHE BAHN AND INDUSTRY ARE TESTING FULLY AUTOMATED TRAIN DRIVING

In the "AutomatedTrain" research and development project, the partners will be testing fully automated staging and staging runs for trains over the next three years. Intelligent sensors enable vehicles to recognize their surroundings and react to obstacles independently – comparable to autonomous driving on the road. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection supports the project. Parliamentary State Secretary Michael Kellner handed over a funding decision for around 42.6 million euros in Berlin.

By 2026, a train from Siemens Mobility and a train from the S-Bahn Stuttgart will be equipped as prototypes. The Mireo Smart train from Siemens Mobility will make its way from the siding to the first station fully automatically and without a driver. If there are obstacles, the vehicle brakes automatically. In addition, the fully automated set-up and dismantling ("starting up and shutting down") of the train is also being tested. In addition, the second train collects data for obstacle detection, among other things. Both vehicles are equipped with the same hardware but with different software solutions. This allows the recorded sensor data and the software's reactions to special events to be compared with one another.

A total of ten companies from different sectors are working together on the project: DB Netz AG, Bosch Engineering GmbH, Codewerk GmbH, DB Regio AG, duagon Germany GmbH, IAV GmbH, ITK Engineering GmbH, Red Hat GmbH, Siemens Mobility GmbH and the Technical University of Dresden. The results of the project are to be presented at InnoTrans, the international trade fair for railway and transport technology, in 2026.

The project is co-financed with EU funds (European Recovery and Resilience Facility).