MAN Truck & Bus schedules the launch of a fully automated MAN bus on the market in 2030. An electric bus is being automated and tested in real-life conditions in the MINGA research project. Automated driving functions have also already been tested in the @City initiative together with 14 partners, and MAN is working on the BeIntelli ‘explanatory bus’ to bring an intelligent transport system with automated vehicles to life.
MINGA brings automated MAN Lion’s City E to Munich’s streets Since 2023. MAN has been part of the MINGA research project (Munich's automated local transport with ride pooling, solo buses and bus platoons), which is supported by around a dozen partners from administration, research and industry. As the commercial vehicle partner of the operating company MVG and its parent company Stadtwerke München (SWM), MAN is providing an automated and fully electric Lion's City E equipped with an Automated Driving System (ADS). Pilot operations are scheduled to start in 2026, when the bus will be tested in real-life conditions. A safety driver will be on board. “For us, key parts of the MINGA project are the development of the complex interface between the vehicle and the ADS and the integration of the systems into our electronic architecture,” says says Michael Roth, Head of Product Strategy Bus at MAN Truck & Bus. The new electronic platform introduced in the 2024 model year facilitates this integration. MINGA builds on earlier projects such as @CITY (‘Automated Cars and Intelligent Traffic in the City’). This BMWK-funded project focused on approaching bus stops – one of the most bus-specific driving
manoeuvres. Together with 14 partners, MAN spent four years developing automated driving functions and demonstrated the results at the Aldenhoven Testing Centre in 2022. Another project is ‘BeIntelli,’ which is being implemented in collaboration with the DAI Laboratory at TU Berlin and IAV GmbH Ingenieurgesellschaft Auto und Verkehr. The aim is to bring an intelligent transport system with automated vehicles to life. An automated MAN electric bus equipped with an Automated Driving System (ADS) from ZEKI | Centre for Experiential AI and Digitalisation is currently undergoing test operations in Berlin city centre with safety drivers. The so-called ‘explanatory bus’ has 60 sensors (including cameras, radar and 3D lidar) as well as screens and other communication components so that driving skills, decisions and technologies can be visualised and explained to passengers. “The MINGA research project in particular is a significant step for us in terms of proving the concept on the road,” says Michael Roth. Once the concept phase is complete, field trials with customers are set to begin. The goal of MAN is to launch a fully automated vehicle on the market by 2030.