Autonomous driving has been considered one of the major trends in the mobility industry for years. According to a representative survey conducted by the digital association Bitkom in 2021, 99.8 percent of respondents can imagine using an autonomous means of transport*. But what does it actually mean when car manufacturers send the first systems for highly automated driving on the road at level 3 and level 4 autonomous shuttles reinforce public transport in Germany on demand from 2023 onwards?    

A mobility guarantee is

A local public transport plan is a planning instrument in which all performance and quality criteria for the operation of local public transport in an area are acquired. The local transport plan analyses the existing mobility offer and serves as a guideline for the future development of local mobility. 

The abbreviation AST in German means “Anruf-Sammel-Taxi”, in English “call-collective-taxi” and ALT means “Anruf-Linien-Taxi” – call-line-taxi. Both are demand-oriented special forms of public transport in urban, local or even regional traffic. With a small number of passengers, a large bus in regular service is uneconomical. That’s why there are the AST and ALT services – they are only in operation there is need and demand – «on-demand» in a manner of speaking.