Free autonomous shuttles premiere in Frankfurt

They will be on-demand, available for pickup anywhere on their 2.7-kilometre route

Last Friday, two autonomous vehicles premiered with an on-demand service on the streets of Frankfurt in Germany. The shuttles, nicknamed EASY (Electric Autonomous Shuttle for You) will operate in a 2.7-kilometre route in the city’s Riederwald district and passengers will be able to use them for free

The project was created through a collaboration between Rhein-Main-Verkehrsgesellschaft (RMV), the Frankfurt local public transport company Traffiq, the Frankfurt Public Transport Company (VGF) and Easymile, the company that manufactures the vehicles.

The pilot project will run until July 2023, after which authorities plan to scale up the offer. Currently, EASY provides on-demand local public transport, ferrying people from residential areas to local stores. People can book journeys and ride for free through an app, while the vehicles will calculate the shortest routes and pick users up on the way.

How autonomous are the vehicles?

According to a statement by the RMV, the EASY will be capable of autonomous driving level 4, meaning that it would be capable of driving fully autonomously in proper settings without the assistance or intervention of a human driver.

However, according to a report by the Frankfurter Neue Presse, the vehicles will include a so-called operator for safety reasons. They will move at a speed of 20 kilometres per hour, though after the pilot ends, the RMV claims that the vehicles will start driving much faster.

The cost of the project is around 1.2 million euros with the lion’s share (70%) coming from EU funding programme SHOW - Shared Automation Operating models for Worldwide Adoption.

The service would be available to residents through the Easy app or via telephone at the RMV service (069/ 242 480 24). The buses will run between 8 AM and 4 PM, every Monday through Saturday.