DB subsidiary ioki joins EU project on autonomous vehicles in public transport

German software company ioki, a Deutsche Bahn subsidiary, has been selected as the new technology partner of the EU-funded project AVENUE. The EU’s flagship project “Autonomous Vehicles to Evolve to a New Urban Experience” (AVENUE) will initially test the automation of urban transport in four European cities, with more cities to follow. This awarding allows the German company to expands its position in the market of autonomous and on-demand mobility. The first autonomous shuttles with ioki’s software are set sto start operations in the Swiss city of Geneva in winter.

In the framework of EU-backed AVENUE project (which is founded with €22 million as part of the EU Commissions Horizon 2020 program), ioki will provide its specially developed technical interface, which creates the prerequisite for combining autonomous driving and on-demand booking. In addition, the ioki software enables deep integration into the existing public transport system and MaaS apps. ioki has experience in high-volume fleet orchestration and simultaneous navigation of autonomous shuttles in real time, claiming to be «the only company in the European market».

ioki, on-demand transport services in Europe

The first autonomous vehicle on German roads has been on the road since 2017 using the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary’s technology. In 2019, another autonomous milestone was reached with the connection of the autonomous vehicle to rail transport. ioki’s smart platform also enables the first on-demand autonomous connection in Europe: in Karlsruhe, passenger operations for self-driving shuttles on demand started in May 2021.

In the past three years, ioki has already implemented around 65 on-demand transports in six European countries, around 40 percent of which are climate-friendly and powered by electricity or hydrogen. More than 100 employees work from the headquarters in Frankfurt.

“ioki’s vision is smart, integrated transport – whether driver-based or autonomous. We are pleased that we can contribute our know-how in the field of autonomous driving to this future-oriented EU project. With the findings from the AVENUE project, we are setting the course for autonomous and connected mobility in Europe,” said Dr. Michael Barillère-Scholz, Managing Director of ioki GmbH. 

“With ioki, we gain an experienced partner and come a big step closer to our goal of making Europe a global thought and technology leader in the use of connected and autonomous mobility. We are looking forward to working with ioki and to launch the first autonomous shuttles in Geneva,” said Prof. Dimitri Konstantas, AVENUE project coordinator at the University of Geneva, who is responsible for managing the €22 million EU project.