Level 4 RAION shuttle receives road approval KBA President visited the Lower Saxony Research Centre for Vehicle Technology (NFF)

On 3 December, Richard Damm, the President of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), visited Technische Universität Braunschweig. The purpose of the visit was to grant road approval in accordance with the AFGBV (Autonomous Vehicle Approval and Operation Ordinance) for the RAION shuttle, which is autonomous and was developed at the Institute of Vehicle Technology. This makes the institute the first research facility in Germany to receive approval for a Level 4 driving function on public roads.

The institute has been working on obtaining road approval for such a vehicle since 2023 as part of the internal Circle2Circle project. The necessary approval documentation was submitted in a record time of only twelve months, thanks to excellent cooperation with the specialist departments of the KBA, TÜV Nord, and the Braunschweig Road Traffic Authority. Ten research assistants and six technicians from the Institute of Vehicle Technology are involved in the project.

“TU Braunschweig is playing a pioneering role in the development of its own autonomous driving functions with its intensive work, following the practical demonstrations of the Highway Pilot and Automated Valet Parking with the L4 shuttle RAION,” explained Professor Roman Henze, Head of the Institute of Automotive Engineering and the automated and connected driving research field at the Lower Saxony Research Centre for Vehicle Technology (NFF) in Braunschweig. “This result makes us the first research institution in Germany to receive approval for a Level 4 driving function on public roads that can be extended to any driving environment.”

On-site approval of overall system and safety concept

On-site approval of the overall system and safety concept.
During KBA President Richard Damm’s and Thies Weinand’s visit, the “Type Approval – Autonomous Driving” department conducted an on-site inspection of the RAION. The technical design of the vehicle was examined and the functionality of the overall system and safety concept was comprehensively tested. This inspection is the final step towards obtaining AFGBV approval (Autonomous Vehicle Approval and Operation Ordinance).

“A special technical feature is the triple-redundant safety concept, which opens up the possibility of remote-monitored and infrastructure-controlled autonomous driving modes, among other things. This architecture ensures that the vehicle can always transition to a safe state in the event of a fault,” said project manager Emma Strenge.

“Responsible innovation only through close cooperation”

During the RAION presentation, Richard Damm also learned about the NFF’s extensive research activities. During a discussion about the findings to date and the next steps for the safe transition of autonomous vehicles into regular operation, it became clear that this work could only be achieved through close coordination between all the partners involved. This emphasised the importance of cooperation between all participating institutions to implement new mobility concepts.

Richard Damm (KBA): “The marketing and approval of autonomous vehicles is one of the strategic goals in the context of promoting new technologies that we at KBA are actively pursuing. An important component of this is cooperation with research institutions in this field. In this respect, I am particularly pleased that we at the KBA are able to accompany and constructively support the Institute for Vehicle Technology at the NFF of Technische Universität Braunschweig in the approval processes for the L4 research vehicle RAION.”

Professor Henze (TU Braunschweig): “The close cooperation between the KBA, the TÜV, the local road traffic authority and our institute shows that responsible innovation can only succeed through close collaboration. Today’s visit and tour are important milestones on the road to further developing our autonomous shuttle RAION for use on public roads.”

About RAION

RAION – Japanese for lion – is the demonstrator of an autonomous public transport shuttle (level 4) and is being used to develop future autonomous driving systems (AD) and vehicle concepts for real road traffic. Compared to many previous demonstrations, a special feature is that the AD system is designed for the high traffic-adapted speeds of a real driverless vehicle. The necessary functional safety is achieved in regular operation by triple redundant systems (two of which are in the vehicle and one is a backup via the infrastructure).