Autonomous Driving: ZF Receives Approval for Level 4 Testing Across Germany

ZF Mobility Solutions has received approval from the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) to test a Level-4 autonomous driving (AD) system nationwide on public roads in Germany.

Until now, individual approvals were granted only for clearly defined routes or urban areas.

This release marks a milestone in the development of autonomous mobility solutions: as a development and consulting service provider, ZF’s subsidiary can now support partners in implementing sustainable transport transition projects for public transportation more quickly and efficiently.

For the first time, ZF Mobility Solutions used the expanded approval for a project in North Rhine-Westphalia: on behalf of Rheinbahn AG, the short-term use of an autonomous transport system (ATS) was tested in Düsseldorf.

“The nationwide Level-4 testing approval for our autonomous driving system marks a significant step towards autonomous mobility in public transport,” says Alexander Makowski, Head of ZF Mobility Solutions. “

“We can now test autonomous mobility systems in various environments – from urban centres to rural areas. In the future, we will no longer need a separate testing approval for this. This saves our clients time and money. They can now implement projects in urban and regional public transport more quickly, cost-effectively, and efficiently,” he adds.

Groundbreaking Approval for Highly Automated Driving

The testing approval provides important insights for the further development of autonomous mobility solutions.

It contributes to bringing the technology to market maturity and further developing operational frameworks.

The focus is on urban and regional public transport.

Highways, express roads, and roads with a speed limit over 100 km/h are excluded from the approval.

The approval is valid until the end of 2026 and can be extended until the end of 2028.

Successful ATS Deployment with Rheinbahn AG in Düsseldorf

The first ATS deployment after receiving the expanded approval took place in North Rhine-Westphalia in February: ZF Mobility Solutions, on behalf of Rheinbahn AG, tested the short-term use of an autonomous mobility solution with a safety driver in the public road space in Düsseldorf.

During the leading trade fair for autonomous technologies and robotics, XPONENTIAL, and the following customer days, public transport operators and representatives from cities and municipalities had the opportunity to ride in an autonomous transport system.

Interested visitors were also able to register for free test rides between the exhibition car park and exhibition halls.

“Autonomous driving is a crucial building block for the transport transition and another step towards seamless, inclusive, and sustainable mobility,” says Annette Grabbe, Spokesperson for the Board, Labour Director, and CFO of Rheinbahn AG.

“The recent nationwide approval strengthens our efforts to work with partners to move forward with practical implementation, learn together, and drive innovative mobility solutions,” she adds.

ZF Mobility Solutions supported Rheinbahn AG in implementing the autonomous public transport trial.

The focus was on the organisational and technical enablement of operations.

Specifically, this involved consulting activities in the selection and evaluation of potential routes, mapping these routes, and creating the requirements profile for hardware and software.

Additionally, commissioning, conducting the trial, and subsequent surveys of participants for development purposes were within the scope of ZF Mobility Solutions’ expertise.

Baden-Württemberg: RABus Pioneers Autonomous Driving

Experience and development expertise in the context of highly automated driving functions and insights into approval and certification processes for Level-4 vehicle platforms were already gathered by ZF Mobility Solutions in the RABus project.

For two selected routes in the Baden-Württemberg cities of Friedrichshafen and Mannheim, the project partners received one of the first Level-4 testing approvals from the KBA last year, according to the national Autonomous Vehicle Approval and Operation Regulation (AFGBV).

In line with the AFGBV, a shuttle was specifically developed for the RABus project by the consortium partners, which meets the technical requirements for mixed traffic.

To this end, the technology company ZF entered into a project-specific partnership with the shuttle manufacturer eVersum from Austria, which supplied four electric shuttles equipped with ZF’s latest AD technology for the project.

The project, supported by the Ministry of Transport of Baden-Württemberg, was extended by Minister Winfried Hermann at the end of last year in Friedrichshafen.

The extended project timeline allows ZF’s subsidiary to further advance technical development and create additional testing opportunities to optimise the ZF system for autonomous driving under real-world conditions.

“Baden-Württemberg has pioneered autonomous driving with shuttle buses through the RABus project. The nationwide approval for the operation of RABus across Germany is, for me, a kind of recognition for the project,” says Winfried Hermann, Minister of Transport, Baden-Württemberg.

He continues: “The insights from the state now help to further develop autonomous mobility systems nationwide and bring them closer to market maturity for SAE-Level 4. I am particularly pleased that North Rhine-Westphalia, together with its project partners, is also pushing this topic forward and working together with us. This creates valuable synergies that strengthen autonomous public transport in Germany as a whole. In Baden-Württemberg, we continue to work on creating the foundation for this intelligent technology.”

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