TIER IV and TUM Adapt Autoware for Munich's €20 Million Autonomous Bus Project

Munich's RISE project carries up to €20 million in German federal funding, and TIER IV plus the Technical University of Munich (TUM) just staked their claim to its software core. On November 11, 2026, the two announced that their joint Autoware research center will support development of an autonomous-driving system for a full-size city bus in Munich — development work, not a driverless service. Real-world runs on MVG routes remain planned and will carry safety personnel on board.

Who does what in the deal?

The division of labor is clean. TUM supplies the sensor setup and builds the Autoware-based autonomous-driving system. MAN Truck & Bus equips the bus with autonomous-driving actuation and low-level software, keeping the vehicle's underlying control systems in the manufacturer's hands. TUM will draw on experience from Autoware-based autonomous bus deployments in Japan to adapt the open-source stack to a new vehicle platform and Munich's urban operating environment.

Germany's Federal Ministry of Transport approved the funding. TUM announced on November 9, 2026 the opening of the German Center for Future Mobility's Munich project site, setting the RISE funding window from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2029.

The scope goes well beyond driving code. RISE, a TUM-led consortium, is meant to lay the scientific, technical, organizational and regulatory groundwork for autonomous buses and shuttles to enter regular public-transport operation in the long run. It covers control centers, operational processes and digital infrastructure alongside the vehicles themselves.

How will testing roll out?

Testing starts with controlled trials at a closed site in Ottobrunn. Real-world laboratory operations on two MVG routes follow. That sequence moves the project from a controlled environment into conditions where vehicle technology and transit processes can be examined together.

The consortium is broad. Beyond TUM and MAN, RISE's core partners include the City of Munich, SWM, MVG, the Munich Transport and Fare Association, the University of the German Armed Forces in Munich, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and UnternehmerTUM. In plain terms: research and vehicle development sit at the same table as the municipal and public-transport organizations that would have to run autonomous mobility routinely.

What is the research center's role?

The bus initiative is an early application of the TUM Autoware Research Center by TIER IV. The center grew out of a multi-year strategic research collaboration announced on October 15, 2026, backed by strategic research funding from TIER IV. It pulls together TUM's Chair of Automotive Technology and its professorships for Cyber-Physical Systems and Autonomous Vehicle Systems.

Its agenda covers safety, evaluation and scalability — including combining learning-based driving models with rule-based supervision and developing tests across simulation, offline analysis and real-world operation.

"The research center was established to help TUM connect open research with real-world deployment," said Shinpei Kato, founder and CEO of TIER IV.

Findings from the bus system's integration and real-world testing are intended to inform Autoware and related evaluation methods, with outcomes contributed to the open-source ecosystem where appropriate. The partners aim to establish a repeatable path for adapting Autoware to European vehicle platforms and practical mobility applications.

Can Japanese deployment experience translate to Europe?

That's the central question. The center must turn experience from Japanese bus deployments into repeatable methods for European vehicle platforms, while the planned Munich trials examine how Autoware fits into supervised public-transport operations. If the Ottobrunn-to-MVG sequence works, the three-year project gives open-source autonomy its first structured shot at mainstream German transit.