2 self-driving taxis take to the streets in Zurich and Aargau

Self-driving cars have taken to the roads in Furttal, a small town in the Canton of Zurich, as part of a new pilot project to put automated vehicles on Swiss roads. 

Two self-driving vehicles hit the roads in the Furttal Valley

As of Monday, August 18, two self-driving vehicles have been deployed in the Furttal Valley to test how they handle driving on real roads and how they adapt to the behaviour of other road users. For now, they are still being accompanied by safety drivers, but the aim is for the vehicles to operate entirely autonomously in future. 

As 20 Minuten reports, the pilot project, put together by SBB and the Canton of Zurich is part of a push to introduce automated services into public transport in the region, with the goal of making services more cost-effective and flexible, especially in rural regions. 

Vehicles can be booked on-demand from early 2026

The vehicles, which are equipped with software that uses numerous sensors to monitor their surroundings, will for the next few weeks and months drive along the streets of the pilot area, which includes the municipalities of the Furttal Valley in Zurich, and the Aargau municipalities of Würenlos and Killwangen, to create a digital map of the region. 

Once the mapping phase is completed, and pending the Federal Roads Office’s approval, the vehicles will go into the “training phase”. During this phase, they will learn to comply with traffic regulations, follow road signs, and safely handle typical situations on the roads. 

Once the test phase is complete, residents in the Furttal Valley should be able to start booking the vehicles via a special app - almost like hailing a regular taxi. The vehicles would pick passengers up from pick-up spots and drop them at their desired destination. In future, the smaller vehicles would be replaced with minibuses. Depending on demand, the minibuses would either operate on a scheduled or on-demand basis. This is expected to start in the first half of 2026.