Hamburg tests autonomous taxis as a supplement to public transport.

Freenow by Lyft and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to systematically integrate autonomous vehicles into the city's urban traffic. According to the partners, this is the first agreement of its kind in Germany in which a municipality and a private company jointly establish a strategic framework for the deployment of autonomous taxis in regular operation.

The aim of the collaboration is to progressively transfer Level-4 vehicles into taxi traffic and establish them as a fixed component of a hybrid mobility system. Autonomous taxis are intended to complement public transport, particularly during periods of low demand and in previously underserved urban areas of the city.

Autonomous vehicles as part of an integrated system

According to the parties involved, Hamburg is pursuing a long-term strategy for autonomous mobility. Public transport and taxis should complement each other and take on clearly defined roles. Drivers would remain a central part of the system in the future, while autonomous vehicles create additional capacity and open up new areas of activity, such as maintenance, operations, and fleet management.

Guiding principles for the transition from testing to regular operation

The memorandum sets out fundamental principles for the introduction of autonomous vehicles. These include high safety and operational standards, the testing of Level-4 vehicles in taxi operations, the close involvement of local taxi companies, and the systematic evaluation of operational and usage data as the basis for potential scaling.