They have long been on the move in China: autonomous minibuses. Now Germany wants to drive the lead market for autonomous. This said Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) on a joint visit with his British counterpart Heidi Alexander in Hamburg. Autonomous driving is of great importance for Germany. “It offers a lot of opportunities for us in urban traffic, in rural traffic,” he said. Schnieder had previously tested an autonomously driving Moia shuttle together with Alexander – part of the Hamburg pilot project Alike for autonomous driving by the federal government. They were accompanied by Hamburg’s traffic senator Anjes Tjarks (Greens).
Autonomous driving in Hamburg has an exemplary character
“We want to get together together in Germany and in Europe,” said Schnieder. With Alexander he exchanged the possibilities “that are in this technology and what we have to tackle together”. The projects in Hamburg supported by his ministry have a role model for Germany, said Schnieder. “We want to go into real operation from this project company, learn from the experiences that we have made here so far and continue to roll out.”
Rail connection between Germany and Great Britain
The background to the meeting was the signing of the German-British friendship contract on July 17, 2025, with which Germany and the United Kingdom had put their bilateral cooperation on a new basis-also in the area of mobility. For this purpose, the two transport ministers also wanted to sign joint declaration of intent during their visit to the Federal Sea shipping in Hamburg and hydrography with the aim of initiating the creation of a future direct connection in cross -border rail passenger transport between Germany and the United Kingdom.
