“AmiGo”: PostBus brings autonomous vehicles to Eastern Switzerland

• “AmiGo” is a new service from PostBus that will make mobility in Eastern Switzerland even more attractive for customers. It’s a bookable, on-demand service with electric autonomous vehicles, each offering space for up to four passengers.
• Testing with mapping runs will begin in December 2025 with the first vehicles and safety drivers; up to 25 vehicles are planned for the final service expansion.
• Regular service from the first quarter of 2027 at the latest: following an intensive testing phase, “AmiGo” is to be introduced as a permanent service without safety drivers.
• Broad-based partnerships enable the implementation and development of the service.

With “AmiGo”, PostBus is becoming a pioneer for a new era in public transport: in future, the service will supplement the current provision of public transport in areas where traditional scheduled services are not optimally accessible – in rural areas and regions with fewer connections or during off-peak times, for example.

The aim is to establish and gradually develop a regular range of mobility services with autonomous vehicles in the deployment area. The first vehicles will begin test runs in December. These will take place initially without customers and with safety drivers on board.

Flexible, autonomous and electric

The self-driving vehicles will be available on demand: customers book their journey with an app. If other users are travelling on a similar route at the same time, the system will also be able to pool the journeys (ride pooling). These carpooling services improve vehicle utilization, creating a flexible, on-demand service that makes mobility even more efficient, sustainable and customer-friendly. Each vehicle can seat up to four passengers and has enough storage space for luggage. The entire fleet is electric.

PostBus brings autonomous driving to the roads of Eastern Switzerland

With “AmiGo”, PostBus is launching an autonomous service, which, in future, will be operated as a regular mobility service and form part of the public transport network.

Shaping the public transport of the future with strong partners

The project partners on board include the cantons of St. Gallen, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Thurgau, the Federal Office of Transport (FOT), the Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) and Touring Club Switzerland (TCS).

Autonomous driving is no longer a vision of the future, but a reality under development. It’s now important is to gain experience with driverless vehicles. Pilot projects such as AmiGo show how Switzerland is using autonomous vehicles responsibly, providing safe, efficient and accessible mobility for all.

Jürg Röthlisberger, Director of ASTRA

The cantons in Eastern Switzerland are taking the opportunity to significantly improve the provision of mobility services for their populations.

With AmiGo, the cantons of Eastern Switzerland are sending a powerful signal about their commitment to forward-looking mobility and the innovative development of public transport.

President of the Cantonal Government Beat Tinner, Head of the Department of Economic Affairs of the Canton of St. Gallen, representing the cantons of Eastern Switzerland

Jürg Wittwer, CEO of TCS, is also convinced that flexible, autonomous mobility services will play an important role in the future:

We’ll see major changes in mobility in the next few years, particularly in public transport. The variety of routes and forms of mobility will change considerably, and TCS will accompany these developments.

Jürg Wittwer, CEO of TCS

Also on board is the Chinese technology partner Apollo Go – a world leader in autonomous driving.

We’re delighted that PostBus has chosen Apollo Go as its technology partner. We already successfully operate over a thousand autonomous vehicles with over 14 million accumulative rides worldwide. We’re bringing this experience to our first project in Europe and hope we can continue to strengthen and expand our partnership with PostBus in the future.

Liang Zhang, Managing Director of EMEA, Baidu Apollo

Start in December 2025

The first vehicles will be on the region’s roads for mapping runs from December 2025. These test runs will initially be held without any customers and with safety drivers on board. Data processing will be carried out in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection and the GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation).

The first test runs are planned with a selected user group in the first half of 2026, still with safety drivers on board. Provided that all safety and quality requirements are met, the first journeys will be made without safety drivers in the course of 2026.

Regular operations are expected to commence in the first quarter of 2027. With 25 vehicles in future, “AmiGo” is currently the largest planned service offering autonomous vehicles in Europe.

Information events for the region’s population will take place before the test phase is launched. More information on this will be released at a later date.

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