Autonomous HOLON mover celebrates German premiere in Hamburg

Paderborn/Hamburg, July 6, 2023. The HOLON mover can now be seen in Germany for the first time. The autonomous vehicle celebrated its premiere today at the Automuseum PROTOTYP. Politicians, customers, partners, and media representatives were invited to the event.

The HOLON mover is a fully electric, autonomous vehicle for use on public roads. Designed for accessibility, the shuttle features an automated ramp, secured wheelchair space, and auditory and visual assistance for passengers. It is one of the world's first movers built to automotive standards – in other words, a leader in safety, ride comfort and production quality. The vehicle has a maximum speed of 60 km/h and a range of approximately 290 kilometers. HOLON, an independent subsidiary of the BENTELER Group, presented the mover for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January.

Marco Kollmeier, CEO of HOLON: "Our HOLON mover makes mobility more sustainable, safer and more inclusive. We are convinced that affordable and robust shuttles will play an important role in the public transport of the future. We offer our customers not only an excellent vehicle with automotive quality, but also the corresponding services. We are very excited to be presenting our mover in Germany in the coming months."

Volker Wissing, Germany’s Federal Minister of Digital and Transport, says: "Autonomously driving shuttles, such as the HOLON mover, will be an essential part of the mass transit of the future. Mobility must change, and autonomous movers are a response to societal megatrends such as urbanization, climate change and demographics. It’s good that cutting-edge technology of this kind is being developed in Germany and is being used more and more in practice.”

Together with Hamburg-based HOCHBAHN AG, Germany's second-largest public transport company, HOLON is driving the expansion of customer-friendly and climate-friendly mobility services. Last year, the two companies agreed a declaration of intent for the use of autonomous shuttles in local public transport. The plan is to start operating several autonomous HOLON vehicles in Hamburg at the end of 2024 as a contribution to the "Hamburg-Takt" initiative. By 2030, every Hamburg resident should have access to a public mobility service within five minutes from morning to evening. Autonomous on-demand services such as the HOLON mover will play an important role in achieving this.

Dr. Anjes Tjarks, Hamburg's Senator for Traffic and Mobility Transition: "The HOLON mover is celebrating its European premiere in Hamburg – that's fitting. We want to be a pioneer in modern mobility and use it to make people's lives more pleasant and comfortable. Autonomous driving will play a key role in this, particularly in combination with conventional public transport. We want to use autonomous shuttles to offer the “Hamburg-Takt" service throughout the city by 2030: By then, everyone should be within 5 minutes of a public transport service during the day."

Henrik Falk, Chairman of the Executive Board of HOCHBAHN: "We want to enter regular operation with autonomous on-demand services as soon as possible to make mobility as simple and straightforward as possible for people. HOLON is a decisive, strong partner for this, with whom we will take important steps towards ‘Hamburg-Takt’.”

The HOLON mover can be viewed by the public during general opening hours at the Automuseum PROTOTYP in Hamburg's Hafencity (Shanghaiallee 7, 20457 Hamburg) until the end of August 2023.