At 7:45 a.m., Elena steps out of her apartment block in the suburbs of the city. The walk to the nearest metro station is manageable on a good day, but tough when it rains or when she’s travelling with her father, who moves slowly and needs frequent breaks. Today, her phone vibrates: “Shared shuttle arriving in 3 minutes at chosen location.”
A small and automated vehicle rolls into a marked pickup bay at low speed. Just a quiet, predictable service that fits into her morning routine. Elena boards, validates her ticket, and watches as the shuttle carefully navigates mixed traffic: cyclists, pedestrians, delivery vans, and school drop‑offs. It stops twice to pick up other passengers, then drops them off at the metro entrance. The ride lasts six minutes, but it replaces what used to be a long walk, an unreliable connection, and a daily dose of stress. And in the evening, the frequency of public transport drops after 10 p.m, so an automated service can fill the gap.
This could be our reality, where automated shuttles can link peri-urban areas to metro and tram stations, reduce walking distances, improve the attractiveness of public transport, and build trust through tangible public benefits.
Automated vehicles must plug into public transport
Automated mobility solutions are maturing in specific applications such as low‑speed shuttles, logistics operations, and advanced driver assistance systems. Commercial models are also beginning to appear, including automated on‑demand services and robotaxis in urban areas. Elena’s shuttle is one of the solutions to solve a very specific problem cities face: the last stretch to mass transit.
Cities across Europe, such as Tampere, Madrid, Linkoping and Leuven, have piloted shared and electric automated services that connect underserved areas to mass transit, demonstrating how automated vehicles (AVs) can be designed to support a city’s mobility system, rather than fragment it.
That’s the main message of Eurocities’ new policy statement Making Automated Mobility Work for Cities and People in Europe. It stresses that AVs deliver the most public value when they extend the transport network rather than compete with it, particularly by targeting gaps where fixed‑route public transport struggles, such as:
- First‑ and last‑mile connections to rail, tram, metro and high‑capacity bus corridors
- Coverage in low‑density or underserved areas
- Better service during off‑peak hours
- Tailored services for specific user groups, including people with reduced mobility
At the same time, automated on-demand services, including robotaxis, are likely to scale in the coming years. The challenge, therefore, the statement adds, is not preventing their emergence, but ensuring they are regulated and adequately integrated, so they contribute to public objectives.
To ensure this, automated mobility should be embedded in Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs), which are based on broader city goals such as decarbonisation, air quality, safety, accessibility, and the efficient use of urban space. If Elena’s city plans for the deployment of AVs through its SUMP, it can prioritise routes like hers, where automation reduces car dependency, improves access, and delivers measurable public benefit.
Automated mobility services can be a great opportunity to strengthen sustainable urban mobility systems.
City leadership: the condition for success
Cities are not simply testbeds; they are public authorities responsible for climate targets, mobility outcomes, road safety, accessibility, and public space. Urban environments are complex, and many practical challenges of cooperative, connected, and automated mobility (CCAM) only become visible locally, at the curb, in mixed traffic, in pedestrian zones, near schools, and on streets shaped by decades of planning choices.
“Automated mobility services can be a great opportunity to strengthen sustainable urban mobility systems, if they complement public transport, support decarbonisation, improve accessibility, enhance safety, and contribute to better use of public space,” explains Eurocities Secretary General André Sobczak. “But, for this to happen, cities must play a key role in the EU and national governance to ensure safe and useful deployment of automated vehicles in normal traffic.”
Effective city leadership means that automated services should be subject to clear deployment conditions, including data sharing, accessibility and safety standards; integrated with public transport and traffic management systems; included in curb‑space and urban access regulation; aligned with urban mobility plan objectives, including climate and public‑space goals; and held to safety standards at least equal to those of public transport and regulated taxis.
Cities need capacity building
However, many municipalities lack resources to move from pilot projects to scaled deployment. The statement stresses that capacity‑building must be an investment priority, including staff expertise in CCAM technologies, data management and impact assessment. Cities like Tampere and Helmond are already investing in this. Cross‑sector collaboration with industry under public oversight should also be prioritised, as Hamburg’s cooperation with MOIA example shows. Knowledge sharing between cities, and support for less advanced municipalities navigating rapidly evolving regulatory landscapes are also vital.
If cities are to integrate automated mobility responsibly, they need tools to match the pace of innovation, such as local regulatory frameworks that can test services safely in real conditions while informing national policy. An example of a local regulatory framework given by the report is sandboxes. They are a controlled environment that lets citizens like Elena ride early versions of the service so the city tests what works, what fails, and what must be required before wider rollout.
Madrid’s mobility sandbox ordinance is an example of city‑led experimentation, enabling controlled testing of new mobility solutions and prompting discussion about whether national rules for testing and operations are too strict. Also, Tampere is an example of multi‑level collaboration: national ministries and local actors worked with a broad set of stakeholders through workshops and feedback to shape legislation related to automated traffic.
What about digital infrastructure, data governance and cybersecurity?
Automated mobility depends on both physical and digital infrastructure. According to Eurocities’ report, bus lanes and traffic management systems should be leveraged, and more investment should go to Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) – connected traffic lights, sensors and roadside units – as part of wider mobility ecosystems. Funding at the EU and national levels should ensure that automated mobility and ITS deployment contribute to more liveable cities, not just technological progress for its own sake.
Data governance is a make‑or‑break issue. Elena generates data every time she rides, but the public benefit only materialises if the city can use anonymised, aggregated information to improve service reliability. For example, adjusting headways when rain increases demand, or refining the pickup location to reduce conflicts at the curb.
Cities need access to reliable, interoperable, anonymised aggregated in‑vehicle data from these new services to support traffic management, operational monitoring and effective evaluation. Yet there are ongoing barriers, such as fragmented data governance across Member States. Without clear rules and access, that learning loop breaks.
And digitalisation introduces system‑level risks: cyberattacks, service disruption affecting critical urban infrastructure, and threats to personal data. Approval processes for automated services should therefore include lifecycle IT‑security requirements, crisis preparedness and an ecosystem‑level resilience approach, with involvement from all levels of government.
Making automated mobility work for cities and people in Europe
The next EU budget cycle (2028–2034) and future research and innovation frameworks are a pivotal opportunity. Choices made now will determine whether the introduction of AVs strengthens Europe’s cities and public transport networks or fragments them through poorly integrated commercial deployment.
The Eurocities policy statement stresses that automation should adapt to cities and their inhabitants, be embedded in SUMPs, and be governed with strong data rules, cybersecurity, citizen engagement and clear accountability while recognising cities as equal partners in the CCAM ecosystem.
If automated mobility is planned around those outcomes, it can become a quiet upgrade to urban life. If not, it risks becoming another force pulling cities away from the sustainable, inclusive mobility systems Europe needs.
You can read more about our work on automated mobility here.
