1001 Smart Cities
🇩🇪 Hamburg

TAVF Test Track for Automated and Connected Driving

🤖 AI-generated summary · ◆ 14 sourced claims · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

14 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page

More than 50 traffic lights and a bascule bridge broadcast their signal timing to passing vehicles. Opened to any carmaker in 2018 and grown to 12 km, predating the 2021 ITS World Congress.

Outcome🔄 Ongoing
Evidence🏛️ Official
what does this mean?The strongest source is the operator's or the city's own reporting — an official report, dataset or press release. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run byNew Mobility Solutions Hamburg GmbH, for the Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende
Scale🏘️ District
FundingJust under €8 million from Germany's Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) under its municipal traffic-system digitalisation programme, plus EU Connecting Europe Facility support

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,167 documented projects · 🏙️ 8 more in Hamburg · 🚗 Autonomous vehicles guide · 🚲 Mobility projects

A 12 km corridor through Hamburg's inner city where more than 50 traffic lights and a bascule bridge broadcast signal timing to vehicles over ITS-G5. Open since 2018 to any carmaker or research institute; Volkswagen, Continental, DLR and the EU truck-automation project MODI have used it. Predates, rather than follows, the 2021 ITS World Congress.

Live 📅 since 2018

📊 Impact

More than 2,000 test drives by around 20 carmakers, technology companies and research institutes, on a corridor grown from the nine kilometres planned in 2018 to twelve — every count is the city's own. None of those drives was driverless: by Hamburg's own account, whether a vehicle may ever run the route autonomously is still open.

🎓 Lesson

Signals and radios are a procurement; a driverless run is a legal decision no test track can force. Hamburg built the connected half from 2018 and kept it busy with whoever came next — adaptive-signal research, Volkswagen's Level 4 test fleet, EU truck trials — while the autonomous step the corridor was built to enable stays open.

🚲 MobilityAutonomous vehiclesSensors & IoTConnectivity & 5GTraffic management

Sources

↗ Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — TAVF test trackCity page: ~12 km route, ITS-G5 road-side units, >2,000 test drives, just under €8m BMDV funding, ~20 partners. States driverless operation remains undecided pending legal clarity.
↗ New Mobility Solutions Hamburg — TAVF (operator)Current operator page: more than 50 traffic lights plus a drawbridge, 802.11p/ITS-G5, SPaT/MAP.
↗ DLR — Hamburg test field (VITAL project)Independent research use: K94 intersection, thermal-imaging detection, cooperative signal control, validated through end of 2021.
↗ Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — MODI projectCity page assigning the TAVF's cooperative infrastructure and the port to the EU truck project MODI; written prospectively — the May 2025 tests are documented by the MODI project's own report and trade press.
↗ CINEA — MODI projectEU source: €23m EU contribution, project duration 1 Oct 2022 – 31 Mar 2026, Hamburg one of four port-area use cases along the Rotterdam–Oslo corridor.
Show 4 more sourcesShow fewer
↗ Behörde für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Innovation — Geschäftsstelle für die City-Teststrecke (press release)Published 3 December 2018December 2018 press release: the fourth of 37 planned signals had just been converted, the roughly nine-kilometre route was to be built over the following two years, ITS mobility (Braunschweig) was commissioned as the track's Geschäftsstelle, funding then stood at €4.8m from the federal transport ministry — and the track was already earmarked as a showcase for the 2021 ITS World Congress.
↗ Behörde für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Innovation — Volkswagen erprobt vollautomatisiertes Fahren (press release)Published 3 April 2019April 2019 press release: Volkswagen Group Research became the track's first prominent user, running five specially equipped e-Golfs with Level 4 automation on a three-kilometre section in real city traffic.
↗ MODI project — German use case tests autonomous trucking in HamburgPublished 20 June 2025 · updated 16 July 2025The truck project's own account of its May 2025 Hamburg tests: cooperative motorway merging developed by Volvo, a city-installed detection system for pedestrians and cyclists at a central intersection, and Time-to-Green functions fed by the city's cooperative signal (SPaT) data.
↗ TRANSPORT — MODI-Projekt testet automatisierte Lkw in HamburgPublished 3 July 2025Trade-press confirmation, independent of the consortium's own channels, that the May 2025 Hamburg truck tests took place: automated motorway merging plus urban detection of vulnerable road users and Time-to-Green signal integration, run with Gruber Logistics, DAF Trucks, Volvo Trucks and BASt together with the City of Hamburg.

📅 How old is the evidence?

Two clocks, kept apart: when this entry’s sources were published, and what has happened to its record in the atlas. Documented span: since 2018. 4 of 9 sources carry a publication date, from 3 December 2018 to 3 July 2025.

When the sources were published

  1. Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg · city governmentBehörde für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Innovation — Geschäftsstelle für die City-Teststrecke (press release)
  2. Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg · city governmentBehörde für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Innovation — Volkswagen erprobt vollautomatisiertes Fahren (press release)
  3. MODI (Horizon Europe project consortium) · researchMODI project — German use case tests autonomous trucking in Hamburg · updated 16 July 2025
  4. TRANSPORT – die Zeitung für den Güterverkehr · pressTRANSPORT — MODI-Projekt testet automatisierte Lkw in Hamburg

Every source, with links ↑

What happened to this record

  1. Entered the record
  2. Sources last read

Every revision, permanent →

Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 14 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence Passport · public beta 14 addressable claims, 9 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The passport is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.

Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 14

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-d195adad18574d4c quantitative
A 12 km corridor through Hamburg's inner city
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The city's own project page opens with the corridor's length and inner-city location.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — TAVF test track
Claim 2 clm-b5a51fe6e90b4bd4 quantitative
more than 50 traffic lights and a bascule bridge broadcast signal timing to vehicles over ITS-G5
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The operator's fact sheet lists the equipped signals and the drawbridge, the ITS-G5/802.11p radio standard, and the SPaT/MAP messages that carry signal phase and timing to passing vehicles.
Caveat
The city's own page now counts more than 70 converted signals; the operator's fact sheet still says more than 50.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. New Mobility Solutions Hamburg — TAVF (operator)
Claim 3 clm-1df183c10922ddbd quantitative
Open since 2018 to any carmaker or research institute
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The city calls the field vendor-neutral and open to users, continuously upgraded since 2018; the operator page invites vehicle manufacturers, technology companies and research institutions to test on public roads.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — TAVF test track
  2. New Mobility Solutions Hamburg — TAVF (operator)
Claim 4 clm-6804c24a0b007a54 descriptive
Volkswagen, Continental, DLR and the EU truck-automation project MODI have used it
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The city lists Volkswagen, Continental and DLR among roughly twenty users that have tested use cases; DLR documents its own K94 test junction on the TAVF; the city assigned the TAVF's cooperative infrastructure to MODI, and the project's own report shows its Hamburg truck tests running in real traffic in May 2025 on the city's cooperative signal data.
Caveat
MODI's motorway-merging runs used the autobahn; what the truck project draws from the TAVF is its cooperative signal infrastructure.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — TAVF test track
  2. DLR — Hamburg test field (VITAL project)
  3. Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — MODI project
  4. MODI project — German use case tests autonomous trucking in Hamburg
Claim 5 clm-0ee0d7b943348f1e quantitative
Predates, rather than follows, the 2021 ITS World Congress
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The December 2018 press release already earmarks the track as a showcase for the 2021 congress — three years before it took place; the city's current page calls the track the congress's ITS anchor project and exhibition space.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — TAVF test track
  2. Behörde für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Innovation — Geschäftsstelle für die City-Teststrecke (press release)
Claim 6 clm-02b187ea34486b5b quantitative
More than 2,000 test drives by around 20 carmakers, technology companies and research institutes
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The city's page states both figures in consecutive sentences: over 2,000 test drives, and roughly 20 research institutions, vehicle manufacturers and technology companies that have tested use cases.
Caveat
Both counts are the operator's own; no independent tally exists.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — TAVF test track
Claim 7 clm-01defa0381af5a96 quantitative
grown from the nine kilometres planned in 2018 to twelve
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The December 2018 press release plans a roughly nine-kilometre route with 37 signals; the city's current page describes a roughly 12 km track with over 70 converted signals.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Behörde für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Innovation — Geschäftsstelle für die City-Teststrecke (press release)
  2. Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — TAVF test track
Claim 8 clm-1f39d83d527055af descriptive
None of those drives was driverless: by Hamburg's own account, whether a vehicle may ever run the route autonomously is still open.
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The city's page says openly that if and when a vehicle can run the track at the highest automation level — autonomously, without a driver — is still open; every test drive to date has therefore carried one.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — TAVF test track
Claim 9 clm-5fc4745c2b1f56d6 descriptive
a driverless run is a legal decision no test track can force
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The city itself names the blocker: beyond the technical build-out, international and national legal frameworks must first be created and refined before autonomous operation is possible.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — TAVF test track
Claim 10 clm-d50b67f64127ed71 quantitative
Hamburg built the connected half from 2018
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The operator states that the city has been upgrading traffic signals for I2V and V2I communication since 2018.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. New Mobility Solutions Hamburg — TAVF (operator)
Claim 11 clm-73bd40022daab8de descriptive
adaptive-signal research
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
DLR's VITAL project used a TAVF junction for the first urban deployment of its traffic-dependent signal control, with thermal-imaging detection and validation until the end of 2021.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DLR — Hamburg test field (VITAL project)
Claim 12 clm-9fe4122942d1d0c5 quantitative
Volkswagen's Level 4 test fleet
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The city's April 2019 release announces Volkswagen Group Research testing automated driving up to Level 4 with five specially equipped e-Golfs on a three-kilometre section of the track.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Behörde für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Innovation — Volkswagen erprobt vollautomatisiertes Fahren (press release)
Claim 13 clm-91fb167e04708d1e descriptive
EU truck trials
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The city assigned the TAVF's cooperative infrastructure to the EU truck project MODI; the project's own report and trade press document the May 2025 Hamburg tests — automated motorway merging, urban detection of pedestrians and cyclists, and Time-to-Green signal integration.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — MODI project
  2. MODI project — German use case tests autonomous trucking in Hamburg
  3. TRANSPORT — MODI-Projekt testet automatisierte Lkw in Hamburg
Claim 14 clm-814a9e6f4b5e7bb1 descriptive
the autonomous step the corridor was built to enable stays open
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The city describes the track's purpose as enabling a continuous increase in vehicles' automation level — and says in the next breath that if and when a vehicle can run it autonomously is still open.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — TAVF test track
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-08-28-evidence-baseline effective 2026-08-28 · created 2026-08-28

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:74e22259ca53f369f1b0b0efd51232561f751e15dea1b2f3b2e6b025da590f38
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
14
of 14 claims mapped
9
source dossiers
4
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
New Mobility Solutions Hamburg GmbH, for the Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende
Actor types
utility
Funding model
Not recorded
Funding description
Just under €8 million from Germany's Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) under its municipal traffic-system digitalisation programme, plus EU Connecting Europe Facility support
Cost
Not recorded
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

9 source dossiers

Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — TAVF test track hamburg.de · 9 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-b954731136d232fc
Publisher
Name not classified · hamburg.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-28
Dossier created
2026-08-28
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

City page: ~12 km route, ITS-G5 road-side units, >2,000 test drives, just under €8m BMDV funding, ~20 partners. States driverless operation remains undecided pending legal clarity.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
New Mobility Solutions Hamburg — TAVF (operator) new-mobility-solutions.de · 3 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-c9d1323fe37beb47
Publisher
Name not classified · new-mobility-solutions.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-28
Dossier created
2026-08-28
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Current operator page: more than 50 traffic lights plus a drawbridge, 802.11p/ITS-G5, SPaT/MAP.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
DLR — Hamburg test field (VITAL project) dlr.de · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-349360f71530dace
Publisher
Name not classified · dlr.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-28
Dossier created
2026-08-28
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Independent research use: K94 intersection, thermal-imaging detection, cooperative signal control, validated through end of 2021.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Behörde für Verkehr und Mobilitätswende — MODI project hamburg.de · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-3f5e6a12479e9bd5
Publisher
Name not classified · hamburg.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-28
Dossier created
2026-08-28
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

City page assigning the TAVF's cooperative infrastructure and the port to the EU truck project MODI; written prospectively — the May 2025 tests are documented by the MODI project's own report and trade press.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
CINEA — MODI project cinea.ec.europa.eu · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-b4ff4cda987be3ae
Publisher
Name not classified · cinea.ec.europa.eu
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-28
Dossier created
2026-08-28
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

EU source: €23m EU contribution, project duration 1 Oct 2022 – 31 Mar 2026, Hamburg one of four port-area use cases along the Rotterdam–Oslo corridor.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Behörde für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Innovation — Geschäftsstelle für die City-Teststrecke (press release) hamburg.de · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-e4d2db52e8aa963a
Publisher
Name not classified · hamburg.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2018-12-03
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-28
Dossier created
2026-08-28
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

December 2018 press release: the fourth of 37 planned signals had just been converted, the roughly nine-kilometre route was to be built over the following two years, ITS mobility (Braunschweig) was commissioned as the track's Geschäftsstelle, funding then stood at €4.8m from the federal transport ministry — and the track was already earmarked as a showcase for the 2021 ITS World Congress.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Behörde für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Innovation — Volkswagen erprobt vollautomatisiertes Fahren (press release) hamburg.de · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-cba1b94a891dc33b
Publisher
Name not classified · hamburg.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2019-04-03
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-28
Dossier created
2026-08-28
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

April 2019 press release: Volkswagen Group Research became the track's first prominent user, running five specially equipped e-Golfs with Level 4 automation on a three-kilometre section in real city traffic.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
MODI project — German use case tests autonomous trucking in Hamburg modiproject.eu · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-81f8f33c46d8a463
Publisher
Name not classified · modiproject.eu
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-06-20
Updated
2025-07-16
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-28
Dossier created
2026-08-28
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The truck project's own account of its May 2025 Hamburg tests: cooperative motorway merging developed by Volvo, a city-installed detection system for pedestrians and cyclists at a central intersection, and Time-to-Green functions fed by the city's cooperative signal (SPaT) data.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
TRANSPORT — MODI-Projekt testet automatisierte Lkw in Hamburg transport-online.de · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-3d97f1be1fe1585d
Publisher
Name not classified · transport-online.de
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-07-03
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-28
Dossier created
2026-08-28
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Trade-press confirmation, independent of the consortium's own channels, that the May 2025 Hamburg truck tests took place: automated motorway merging plus urban detection of vulnerable road users and Time-to-Green signal integration, run with Gruber Logistics, DAF Trucks, Volvo Trucks and BASt together with the City of Hamburg.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Known limits of this passport
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.

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Compare this project

🇨🇳 Beijing High-Level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Area (Yizhuang) · Beijing Both frame automation around roadside sensing, not the vehicle. Beijing hit an approvals freeze; Hamburg never permitted driverless. 🇺🇸 NYC Connected Vehicle (V2X) Pilot · New York City Connected-vehicle corridors across the Atlantic: Hamburg's stayed a testbed; New York's scaled to 3,000 vehicles, then lost its band.

Explore the wider context

🚦 Asphalt or algorithms📖 Adaptive traffic signals📖 Automated speed enforcement (speed cameras)📖 Integrated command and control centre (ICCC)
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “TAVF Test Track for Automated and Connected Driving” — Hamburg, Germany. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/hamburg-tavf-testbed/ (last verified 2026-08-28). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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