MAN Puts Automated Electric Bus to Work on Munich's Route 178

MAN Truck & Bus has taken its bus automation program beyond the safety of its own test track and placed it directly into Munich traffic. Since early September, an automated Lion’s City 12 E has been operating on MVG’s Route 178, running the stretch between Petuelring and Freimanner Hölzl, with a safety driver monitoring every trip.

The roughly 12-metre electric bus was automated together with software partner ADASTEC and relies on eight cameras, six radars, five lidar units and satellite navigation to generate a high-definition map of the route. Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt) granted the operating permit after inspections by TÜV, following the country’s national framework for approving autonomous vehicles.

Passengers will get their first taste of the service in November, when selected riders begin boarding. In that next phase, the bus will run alongside regular scheduled services for a limited, closed user group rather than the general public. The vehicle offers around 30 seats and space for a wheelchair, and MAN says its sheer size demands a particularly careful, restrained driving style.

The trial sits inside MINGA, a city-led initiative involving 16 partners that is backed by roughly €13m (US$15.2m) in federal transport ministry funding through mid-2027. While safety drivers will remain on board for the entire duration of the project, MAN views automation as one long-term answer to the driver shortages affecting urban transit.

Moving a full-size bus out of a controlled depot and into mixed traffic is a meaningfully different challenge from testing a passenger car: the vehicle has to read complex intersections, react to pedestrians and cyclists, and do so while carrying a large load of riders. For MAN and its partners, the Munich route is a chance to see whether those demands can be met in everyday conditions before the technology is scaled further.