Germany: The manufacturer says its AutomatedTrain research project has confirmed the technical feasibility of running trains at the highest automation level, GoA4, on open rail infrastructure. Specific figures, though, such as the false-positive rate or how far the system can detect objects, aren’t given in Siemens Mobility’s official statement.
The announcement, marking the completion of one stage of the AutomatedTrain project, came with a demonstration run: a two-car Mireo trainset travelled driverless from the depot to the route’s starting station at the Wegberg-Wildenrath test track in Germany, detecting and reacting to obstacles along the way. German broadcaster RBB24 covered one such demonstration run, during which the driverless Mireo reached 30 km/h.
Siemens Mobility says the work also laid the groundwork for standardising and eventually rolling out fully automated rail systems more broadly. The company has been building toward this since 2022, when it joined a 17-company consortium developing standards for testing and using artificial intelligence in regional trains.
Siemens Mobility’s Mireo travelling driverless from the depot to the route’s starting station at the Wegberg-Wildenrath test track. Source: RBB24
The AutomatedTrain project itself has been running since 2023, led by national operator Deutsche Bahn with 10 German companies involved, and backed by a €42.6 mln state grant. It’s aimed at fully automating train preparation and movement between stabling tracks and passenger platforms, with no driver involved. A BR 430 electric train from Bombardier Transportation is also taking part in the trials.
To run fully driverless, the prototype Mireo was fitted with automation systems, sensors and cameras. Automatic operation relies on the train’s ETCS train control system working alongside its ATO automatic train operation system and onboard obstacle detection.
Siemens Mobility says the centrepiece of its driverless solution is the AVVO platform, which ties together all the systems involved in automated control, handling everything from preparing the train and choosing its direction to braking, while monitoring the safety of its movement and keeping a secure link to the control centre. What the statement doesn’t cover is how the system handles automatic door control, which, alongside communications technology, is one of the key sticking points for rolling out GoA4 driverless operation on open infrastructure.
No fully driverless passenger train is yet running commercially on open infrastructure anywhere in the world. Russia’s RZD has come closest: in 2024, an ES2G Lastochka EMU with GoA3 automation became the first in the world to carry passengers in trial operation on the Moscow Central Circle. Building on that, RZD confirmed in 2026 that it would fit the same systems to 10 more trains, and said testing of onboard systems and computer vision for full GoA4 driverless operation was in its final stage.
