New AV shuttle has a compelling design, but will the project take off?

At a crowded gathering in UE Studios’ Gaimersheim outpost, cheers erupted as a helpful new resident was introduced. At well over six feet tall and sporting a symmetrical side profile, SUE is a new autonomous shuttle that aims to mobilise underserved communities.

Specifically, this electric people mover has been approved for testing on a planned route between Neustadt an der Donau and Bad Bögging, a roughly three kilometre stretch to the east of Ingolstadt that is currently served by a conventional bus link (and seems to run with no real regularity). This is just the starting point, of course. A small test bed within a project that has much larger European ambitions. 

SUE (Self-driving Urban E-Shuttle) was developed primarily by UE Studios but help came from a consortium of 10 (ten!) partners including academia, transport authorities regional and federal government, and even the body for technical approvals TÜV (comparable to the UK’s MOT body).

The design

Design was orchestrated by project lead Alexander Uedelhoven who told Car Design News that the aim was to make riders comfortable both physically and mentally.

“We explored this theme of ‘cute robotics’ or what we call ‘the Wall E effect’,” he explains. “We wanted to make something with soft surfacing, something that looks very friendly and approachable but very unique as well. At one point we explored more of a ‘product design’ approach but decided to go more human centric It's so important that it looks friendly because there will be some people that are sceptical of the technology. It has to ‘fit in’ with its environment.”

The shuttle is formidable but not intimidating, with clean bodysides and an expansive glasshouse (in fact using an innovative application of polycarbonate from supplier Covestro) which floods the cabin with light and connects passengers with the outside world.

Exterior lighting is kept to a minimum – there are no flashing lights or garish LEDs on show – with tasteful vertical headlamps sitting low on the mask at each corner.

“There were some proposals for a defined front and rear visually, but we decided to make the car the front and the rear the same,” explains Uedelhoven. “Because the car is road legal, you do need to have a different lighting setup at each end, so we did that with modular systems that use the same shell but with different inserts.”

Sensors around the roofline are visible but seem to blend in with the overall exterior somehow. Elsewhere, strips of dark polycarbonate hide sensors that the team did not want to be visible, and cleverly allow those sensors to operate as usual.

The CMF treatment is modern and understated. The shuttle on display was finished in a satin silver which features a slight bronze tint to it; confusingly this appeared blue to us on the day. A trick of the light perhaps? At the centre is a burnt orange-coloured opaque block that is dubbed the ‘Tech Belt’ and hides technology that can be easily swapped in and out. All four wheels are visible and are fitted with a four-spoke wheel cover design.

Home from home

Inside, the surfaces are mostly soft to the touch aside from another innovative application of Covestro’s polycarbonate material, which is incredibly light, strong and easy to clean (with a bit of elbow grease). It is also incredibly smooth and brought an almost sculptural theme to the cabin’s visible architecture. Cylindrical head rests were wrapped in a form of felt that can be personalised to where the shuttle operates, and ambient lighting falls from under the armrest-meets-candle holder at the side.

The flickering light courtesy of London-based designer Moritz Waldemeyer was employed to make the cabin feel like a restaurant or hotel, but also points riders to their prospective seats. “At the very beginning, it was about seeing how far I could pixelate a candle flame whilst retaining the spirit of a real flame,” he told CDN. “I think the idea was to get away a little bit from the usual automotive design and make it more like an interior design project. It's less of a car and more like an environment that you enter, and that’s why it fits so well.”

Sitting in the cabin with Uedelhoven, it is clear that this would indeed be quite a relaxing space to flit between home and errands, be it with friends or strangers. There is ample space below the seat to store luggage, and we are told there is headroom enough for a 1.9-metre tall passenger to stand up. (Maserati’s Klaus Busse was not on hand to test this). Importantly, the seats are in a conventional taxi orientation and not ‘carriage’ style. “We had a look into motion sickness because it's very important,” says Uedelhoven. “This is precisely why we did the setup like this.”

The other half of the cabin includes a section for the on-board operator, as this is not a vehicle with approval for full driverless operation. A similarly cosy layout means it does not immediately stick out as an entirely different compartment to the vehicle. The main giveaway is the joystick and display panel. 

All this is a change of dynamic for UE Studios, which is more familiar with building other brands’ concept cars than its own. But in this case, it is the vehicle manufacturer. We suggested to Uedelhoven that this must have been a very different project to work on: “It was a completely different scope – we were the project leader doing what our clients normally do. It’s a massive project for us.”

The team even carried out its own track tests – somewhat comically tested as an open chassis with a driver plonked at the centre like a runaway shed. That aluminium unibody structure has been designed such that all propulsion, steering, braking and suspension is house in a compact section at either end of the vehicle. Super short overhangs mean it is only 130mm from the bumper to the suspension mounting point.

On site was Othmar Wickenheiser, who taught Alexander Uedelhoevn at Hochschule München and was involved in the initial exploration process that preceded SUE. “Alex was one of my extreme talents,” he told CDN, “and I’m immensely proud to see this success story.”

The wider context

It is important to recognise this project in a broader context of autonomous shuttle development. There has been no shortage of prototypes over the past ten years, and many pilots have taken place in dedicated zones over a specified timeframe with apparent success. But few if any have embedded themselves within a wider public transit network with any real significance.

The pattern appears to run as follows: an industry-municipality partnership is formed, the pilot programme kicks off and then it shortly fizzles out. Rinse and repeat across most major markets. 

There are too many examples to list, but here are a few. In 2017, French developer Navya celebrated the launch of a shuttle pilot in Las Vegas – and was involved in a crash on the same day – but later kicked off similar trials in France, the UK and Japan. Things seemed to be going well, but there have been no meaningful updates beyond news of Navya’s financial struggles as of 2023.

In 2019, a separate trial in the Swedish suburb of Barkaby put purpose-built shuttles by Nobina on a dedicated stretch of road. That too showed some promise, and although interest remains in the wider idea, the shuttle doesn't seem to be in operation; standard 12-metre Scania buses are now being prioritised instead. “It’s the product that public transportation operators and customers already know and like,” one of the project leaders has said. A similar project between Transdev and Easymile took place around a campus in Linköping, but the most recent news around that comes from 2021.  

So while many partners are involved with overarching government support and a purpose-built vehicle ready to go, readers will forgive this journalist for retaining an air of scepticism. If it is of any consolation, SUE – as a product – is a compelling design and comes at a time where autonomous driving as a whole seems to be better accepted by the masses. Other more recent projects can be seen in Madrid and — last month in fact — a shuttle was officially integrated into the public transit system of Leuven, Belgium. So it can be done.   

The consortium behind SUE maintains that the vehicle is "not just a vision, but a concrete offering for public transport." Let's hope that vision becomes a reality. 

For more coverage of autonomous vehicles throughout the month of February 2026, click here.