Matthias Muller and Olaf Scholz, First Mayor of Hamburg today signed a memorandum of understanding. The memorandum, signed in Hamburg Town Hall, is an agreement between the automaker and the city to work together over next three years to usher in the future of transportation in the city.

The memorandum includes urban mobility, traffic control and management, autonomous driving and parking, innovative vehicle concepts and alternative technologies, and air pollution.

The idea is to make the city (and by extension cities all over the world) safer, more reliable, and more environmentally friendly.

Hamburg und Volkswagen vereinbaren strategische Mobilitätspartnerschaft


“As a hub of innovation, Hamburg is already a pioneer when it comes to forward-looking themes such as digitalization or the intelligent transport systems (ITS) strategy,” says Muller. “With our ideas and our expertise, we want to contribute to making Hamburg a model city for intelligent transport."

Volkswagen is calling this move one of the building blocks in its master plan, “ TOGETHER 2025 ,” announced earlier this year.

"Here in Hamburg, we want to safeguard mobility for all citizens,” says Scholz. “At the same time, it is our aim to make traffic in our city cleaner, quieter and safer. Technological progress is the only way to achieve that. What is needed is the resourcefulness and inventive spirit of German industry, and we are seeking to cooperate with leading companies such as Volkswagen.

Although there are no financial commitments contained within the memorandum of understanding signed today, the Volkswagen is saying that more projects in the field of autonomous driving, among others, will be announced in the coming months.