Out now: Automated Public Transport in Germany
A new map dossier on Automated public transport in Germany by Wladimir Sgibnev, Karol Kurnicki and Stella Marie Köhler has been published on Nationalatlas Aktuell.
The use of automated buses in local public transport (ÖPNV) continues to gain momentum in Germany. Between 2016 and 2024, 85 projects were launched nationwide, as shown by interactive maps on Nationalatlas Aktuell. The article explores the associated data, spatial distribution patterns of projects, actor dynamics and funding structures in the new field. A supplementary glossary provides additional background information on the development of automated/autonomous driving in Germany.
Cite:
Köhler, Stella Marie / Kurnicki, Karol / Wladimir Sgibnev (2025): Automatisierter ÖPNV in Deutschland. In: Nationalatlas aktuell 19 (10.2025) 5 [10.10.2025]. Leipzig: Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde (IfL).
Publication alert
Almost a year after his personal meeting with the editor of Transfers, Egor’s article was published in the journal. Unfortunately, it is behind a paywall, but you can definitely reach out to the author and request a PDF. The paper focuses on the search for the source of epistemic superiority and engages with recent debates around the concept of technocracy. It draws on theoretical insights from Thorstein Veblen’s oeuvre and findings from anarchist thinkers. The reintroduction of a trolleybus service in Prague is offered as an empirical illustration. The paper’s central argument is that the procedures of knowledge production are the main source of epistemic superiority. This shifts the focus from an analytical value in itself to the executive mechanisms that enable a specific type of expertise.
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Back to the roots
Wladimir Sgibnev and Egor Muleev applied for the modest funding provided by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundation for a study of informal and shared mobilities in Central Asia and South-East Europe. And they won! They are now working to establish collaboration between different scholars in order to prepare the report by the end of the year.