Autonomous vehicles are moving from vision to reality. Across Central Europe, regions are laying the groundwork for self-driving shuttles on tourist routes, automated commuter services, and AI-powered agricultural machines that protect crops and forests.
In Drive2Transform, partner regions from six countries have come together to turn these ambitions into actionable strategies.
As part of the project, transnational expert groups have identified and developed five priority use cases for the automotive transformation in Central Europe.
In this series, we present each of them. We start today with the two use cases developed by the Autonomous Vehicles Expert Group, led by Biz-Up (Austria) and KSSE (Poland) — two use cases the group selected as particularly valuable for cross-border cooperation.
Use Case 1: Autonomous Shuttles for Tourists and Commuters
Many Central European regions share a common challenge: seasonal tourism congestion, chronic driver shortages, and limited public transport in rural or peripheral areas. This use case deploys autonomous electric shuttles and minibuses to connect key destinations — hotels, ski areas, beaches, city centres — and commuter corridors linking park-and-ride facilities with industrial and business parks.
Seven partner regions have developed Regional Exploitation Plans, each reflecting distinct local conditions — from Alpine passes and lakeside resorts to heritage cities and metropolitan commuter belts. The diversity is a strength: together, the partnership covers nearly every terrain type, climate condition, and institutional context that autonomous shuttles will encounter in Central Europe.
What the Expert Group Found
- Vehicle availability in Europe is the shared bottleneck. All partners report a lack of commercially available autonomous shuttle vehicles — compounded by recent manufacturer insolvencies. The expert group is exploring solutions to address this situation, stimulate demand, and provide manufacturers with the necessary volume. One of the partners’ proposals is for example the Joint Procurement Alliance.
- Regulatory frameworks differ sharply. Some countries have established national testing pathways, while others limit autonomous vehicles to research exemptions. This divergence creates barriers — but also a powerful learning opportunity as partners share safety cases, operational data, and approval strategies.
- Cross-border corridors are ready for pilots. Concrete pilot corridors have emerged along existing commuter and tourist flows, offering a manageable scope for demonstrating cross-border autonomous mobility.
- Tourism as a transnational brand. A network of sustainable mobility destinations — Alpine, lakeside, forest, heritage city, mountain border — can collectively attract more attention than any single region alone.
Use Case 2: Autonomous Agricultural Vehicles for Plant Health
The second use case brings autonomous driving into agriculture and forestry. AI-equipped vehicles identify, monitor, and treat plant diseases — using recognition technology originally developed for road safety, now adapted for crop and forest health. The result: more precise interventions, less pesticide use, and a scalable response to growing labour shortages in the sector.
Six partner regions have contributed Regional Exploitation Plans covering a remarkable range of agricultural contexts — from small organic farms on steep terrain to large-scale operations, from vineyards to forestry, from established machinery hubs to regions where precision tools are already standard practice.
What the Expert Group Found
- Robot-as-a-Service as the entry model. Most partners favour subscription-based or cooperative models to make autonomous vehicles accessible to small and medium-sized farms that cannot afford outright purchase.
- Viability depends on crop type. Vineyards, orchards, and organic farms generate enough value per hectare to justify autonomous intervention. Large-scale cereal production requires a phased approach, entering the market only when conditions warrant it.
- Forestry is the climate-critical frontier. Rising temperatures, drought, and expanding pest ranges make autonomous forest monitoring and fire detection increasingly urgent across the Central European corridor.
- Data multiplies value across borders. Plant health data, pest distribution maps, and yield patterns become exponentially more valuable when aggregated across regions — enabling early warning systems and better predictive models for all participants.
Join the Conversation
The Drive2Transform Autonomous Driving Expert Group will convene on 5 May 2026 to advance these strategies into pilot frameworks, cross-border agreements, and joint funding proposals.
Are you a transport authority, technology provider, agricultural cooperative, or research institution working on autonomous systems? We are looking for partners who want to shape the future of autonomous mobility and smart agriculture in Central Europe. Get in touch to explore how you can contribute.
About Drive2Transform
Drive2Transform (CE0200679) is an EU-funded Interreg Central Europe project connecting nine partner organisations across eight countries. The project supports automotive regions in navigating the transition towards sustainable, digital, and autonomous mobility. This article is the first in a series presenting the project’s five use cases, each developed by dedicated transnational expert groups.