MAN automates electric Lion’s City 12 E for Munich pilot

MAN Truck & Bus has fitted a fully electric Lion’s City 12 E bus with an automated driving system (ADS) developed with technology partner ADASTEC, as part of the MINGA research project. Munich Transport Company (MVG) will begin testing the e-bus on city roads in autumn 2026, initially without passengers.

MAN has integrated the ADS into the Lion’s City 12 E’s electronic architecture. The vehicle carries five lidar sensors, six radars, eight cameras and GNSS, with initial trials running at MAN’s premises focused on manoeuvres such as bus stop approaches.

After the on-site phase, the e-bus will move onto Munich’s public roads without passengers for a final test, ahead of MVG’s autumn pilot with a closed user group. A safety driver will monitor the systems on board.

In a statement, Barbaros Oktay, Head of Bus at MAN Truck & Bus, said: “MINGA is an enormously important project for us; after all, it is a crucial step toward a ‘proof of concept’ in regular service. Once the concept phase is complete, field trials with customers are set to begin. There is enormous interest among public transport companies in autonomous buses.”

MINGA (Munich’s Automated Local Transport with Ridepooling, Solobus, and Bus Platoons) has run since 2023 with 16 consortium partners, led by the City of Munich. Backed by around €13m (US$15.2m) in federal funding through mid-2027, the project feeds into MAN’s plan to launch a Level 4 bus within the next decade.

Source: MAN Truck & Bus