MAN and the Munich public transport company, Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft (MVG), have started real-world testing with an autonomous electric bus. While there are smaller commercial projects, such as an autonomous shuttle from De Lijn, this is one of the first full-size electric buses operating autonomously on a regular city route.
The autonomous bus service is part of the MINGA research project. The project was launched in 2023 to study several autonomous driving initiatives in Munich, with an autonomous on-demand shuttle already in operation in the city.
After tests on closed roads, the 12-meter-long bus now joins the project. The German TÜV and the German KBA (the Federal Motor Transport Authority) granted permission for the vehicle to drive on public roads. The chosen route is the Munich line 178 between Petuelring and Freimanner Hölzl.
For the time being, the bus runs without passengers, but from November, pre-registered commuters will be able to join the ride. The project is launched in phases because autonomous driving of a big bus on busy city streets requires a high-resolution, extremely precise map of the route, according to Marc Raudszus, Technical Coordinator and test driver at MAN Truck & Bus.
Electric MAN bus
The vehicle in question is a MAN Lion’s City 12 E, a 12-meter-long electric city bus. MAN transformed it into a self-driving bus together with Adastec. That company specializes in developing SAE Level 4 automated driving software solutions for buses and commercial vehicles.
The automated MAN Lion’s City 12 E will steer, accelerate, brake, and indicate independently. However, it is still accompanied by a trained test driver who can take over as needed. The project aims to collect data to create the conditions for increasingly autonomous operation of the bus service. MAN’s goal is to bring the technology to series production in 2030.
The automated bus is equipped with five LiDAR sensors, six radars, eight cameras, and satellite-based positioning. These collect road and traffic information, such as traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, lane layouts, and other features, which are integrated into a high-resolution digital map of the route.
Existing projects
Adastec already has a substantial amount of data from projects it worked on with Turkish bus manufacturer Karsan, one of the leading companies in this field.
A smaller 8-meter-long autonomous Karsan e-ATAK bus, the first level-four automated bus according to the company, has been operating in Stavanger, followed by tests in Paris and Munich. In Stavanger, it even tackles an 800-meter-long tunnel.
Another impressive project was a CAVForth service in Scotland. Five Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV buses drove autonomously between Fife and Edinburgh from May 2023 until February 2025. They carried fare-paying passengers over a 22-km route at speeds up to 80 km/h.
Commercial deployment
While autonomous city buses are technologically impressive and can be challenging because of their size, they might actually be ‘easier’ to operate than self-driving cars. They follow the same route every time, with fixed stops. They can also be supervised remotely, which might be easier than continuing to find drivers to operate a large bus fleet.
Legislation on the subject already exists, with EU Regulation 2022/1426 providing type approval for fully automated vehicles operating in predefined areas or on predefined hub-to-hub routes. Projects like these will help to make regular operation possible.
