Switzerland’s first public robotaxi pilot launches in Zurich

Three electric cars are now carrying paying passengers through Zurich’s Furttal valley, marking Switzerland’s first publicly accessible robotaxi pilot. The Iamo service links roughly 100 designated stops across Boppelsen, Dänikon, Hüttikon and Otelfingen, four municipalities north of Zurich.

Passengers book through the Iamo app, whose name refers to “intelligent automated mobility”. The application is available for Apple and Android devices. After registering, users select a journey and wait at a designated stop. Each vehicle can carry up to three passengers and currently runs every day from 1pm to 5pm.

The launch gives residents a direct way to experience automated transport in ordinary streets, rather than on a closed test track. It also gives Swiss authorities a controlled setting in which to assess how the technology interacts with local roads, passengers and existing transport services.

Zurich’s Office for Mobility is taking a measured approach. Pascal Kern, the office’s head, says the authorities want to introduce the technology gradually. The pilot therefore begins with a limited fleet, restricted hours and human oversight, while the canton gathers practical experience from real journeys.

A 10-kilometre Iamo journey costs about CHF 8.50, according to the pilot’s fare structure, compared with roughly CHF 44 for a conventional Zurich taxi over the same distance. The Iamo price combines a CHF 4.70 base fare with a charge of CHF 0.38 per kilometre.

That gap could make automated vehicles attractive for short trips in areas where conventional taxi services are expensive or limited. Furttal’s villages sit within the wider Zurich commuter region, yet their lower population density can make frequent, flexible connections difficult to provide.

The service remains separate from Switzerland’s public transport fare system. Passengers cannot use a GA travelcard or Half-Fare travelcard, and the pilot does not currently offer seamless fare integration with trains or buses. Users must pay through the Iamo booking process.

The limited hours and designated stops also shape the service’s usefulness. Iamo is not yet a door-to-door replacement for a taxi. It is a scheduled, app-based connection that asks passengers to plan around fixed collection points. Its price advantage will need to be weighed against those restrictions as the pilot develops.

A safety driver remains behind the wheel in every current Iamo vehicle, and the front passenger seat stays empty. The cars travel in ordinary traffic, but the pilot has not yet reached fully driverless operation.

The arrangement reflects Switzerland’s cautious regulatory path. The project team began testing in summer 2025, first creating a detailed map of the operating area. In November 2025, Astra, the Federal Roads Office, authorised automated driving for the trial. The tests that followed were described as largely uneventful.

Human supervision gives the authorities and operators a way to observe the system while retaining an immediate fallback in traffic. It also lets passengers see how the vehicle behaves around local junctions, village roads and other everyday conditions that may not appear in a controlled proving ground.

Swiss Transit Lab runs the project with the cantons of Zurich and Aargau and Swiss Federal Railways. That partnership brings together a technology operator, regional governments and the national rail company. Furttal was selected partly because automated transport may help less densely populated communities, and partly because its suburban railway line offers a setting to test links between robotaxis and conventional public transport.

The next step is an automated minibus that could operate without a safety driver, with trained staff supervising the vehicle remotely. That expansion would require another approval from Astra, so the timetable depends on both technical performance and regulatory confidence.

The proposed model would change the economics of the service. A larger vehicle could carry more passengers on routes where demand does not justify a conventional bus, while remote supervision could allow one trained operator to oversee several vehicles. The source material does not specify when that phase will begin or how many passengers the minibuses would carry.

Switzerland is entering this market after China and the United States. Companies such as China’s Apollo Go and America’s Waymo already operate fully driverless taxis with paying passengers. Their networks have expanded through large fleets, millions of rides and repeated testing in urban conditions, including motorway environments in some cases.

Swiss regulators and operators have moved more cautiously. The Furttal pilot offers a way to build local evidence before any wider rollout. Its results will matter beyond the four participating municipalities, especially for rural and suburban regions searching for practical links to railway stations and larger transport corridors.

Iamo’s first test is practical: can automated cars become a useful local connection for people who do not live beside a major transport hub? The answer will depend on more than the cars’ ability to navigate. Passenger demand, punctuality, fare integration and public confidence will all shape the pilot’s value.

The Furttal route offers a clear Swiss use case. Boppelsen, Dänikon, Hüttikon and Otelfingen have access to a suburban railway line, yet local trips between homes, stops and stations can be difficult to serve economically with fixed-route public transport. Robotaxis could fill some of those gaps if they operate reliably and if passengers can book them without excessive friction.

For now, users face a separate app, four-hour operating window and no access for GA or Half-Fare cardholders. Those limits make Iamo a trial service rather than a full component of Zurich’s transport network.

The project’s next milestones will be regulatory and operational. Astra must decide whether the planned remote-supervised minibuses can proceed. Swiss Transit Lab and its public partners will also need to show that automated mobility can work safely, affordably and alongside trains. Furttal is the first public chapter in that assessment.