The Wiesn 2024 was not just a folk festival, but also the setting for a groundbreaking innovation: our MCube Wiesn Shuttle was successfully launched and showed what the future of urban mobility could look like. Autonomous, sustainable and efficient - these are the cornerstones of a new age of mobility that we demonstrated with our team at the Oktoberfest.
The demo ride of our autonomous shuttle was accompanied by prominent guests: Munich's Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter, Bavarian State Minister Markus Blume, TUM President Thomas F. Hofmann, Sabine Effner from the City of Munich's Mobility Department and Wiesn boss Clemens Baumgärtner were all on board. They were all able to see the performance and potential of our technology at first hand.
The Oktoberfest may be traditional, but our Wiesn Shuttle proved that innovation and tradition go together wonderfully. In the midst of thousands of Wiesn visitors, countless cabs and rickshaw drivers who don't know red lights, our autonomous vehicle showed that it can drive reliably and safely even in the most chaotic environments. The feedback was overwhelming - from Wiesn operators to school classes, senior citizens and police officers, who were all curious to immerse themselves in the future of mobility.
Why is this so important? Mobility is not just a means of transportation, it is the key to achieving climate neutrality and plays a central role in our daily lives. It is the engine for prosperity, quality of life and inclusion. With autonomous vehicles like our Wiesn Shuttle, we have the opportunity to fundamentally change the urban mobility system - fewer cars, fewer emissions, more space and efficiency.
To shape this future, we not only need the best technologies, but also strong partnerships between science, business and politics. This is precisely the core of MCube - Munich Cluster for the Future of Mobility in Metropolitan Regions. We are working hand in hand with the Technical University of Munich and many other partners to make the mobility of tomorrow tangible today.
While the world is increasingly focusing on electric vehicles, we see autonomous vehicles as having even greater potential to change mobility in the long term. A study by the FTM Institute of Automotive Technology at TUM shows that as many as 17,000 autonomous on-demand vehicles in Munich could replace all the journeys made by over 750,000 registered cars. The space, costs and efficiency gains would be enormous.
Our Wiesn Shuttle was just the beginning. Now we are inviting research institutions, innovative cities, start-ups and companies to shape the future of mobility with us. Munich offers the perfect environment to test and realize these ideas.
A big thank you goes to all our supporters, especially TUM President Thomas F. Hofmann, Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter, Science Minister Markus Blume, Sabine Effner and the Mobility Department of the City of Munich, Wiesn boss Clemens Baumgärtner and of course the fantastic MCube Wiesn Shuttle team. Together we have shown what the mobility of the future can look like - and this is just the beginning!
Let's shape the future of mobility together!
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