Passengers in Zurich’s Furttal valley can now book rides in self-driving cars. The pilot scheme, called Iamo, is Switzerland’s first robotaxi service open to the public, according to the canton.
Three electric self-driving cars are operating between around 100 designated stops in Boppelsen, Dänikon, Hüttikon and Otelfingen, four municipalities in the canton of Zurich.
How does it work?
Passengers must download the Iamo app, whose name stands for “intelligent automated mobility”. It is available from Apple’s App Store and Google Play. After registering, users can book a journey and be collected from one of the designated stops.
Each car can carry up to three passengers. For now, the service runs daily from 1pm to 5pm.
Pascal Kern, head of Zurich’s Office for Mobility, says the authorities want to introduce the technology gradually.
Where does the robotaxi operate?
The service currently covers Boppelsen, Dänikon, Hüttikon and Otelfingen in the Furttal valley.
The area was chosen partly because the project’s organisers believe autonomous transport could be particularly useful in less densely populated places. Furttal also has a suburban railway line, making it possible to test how robotaxis might connect with conventional public transport.
The project is run by Swiss Transit Lab with the cantons of Zurich and Aargau and Swiss Federal Railways.
How much does a journey cost?
The basic fare is CHF 4.70, plus CHF 0.38 per kilometre. A ten-kilometre ride costs about CHF 8.50 in the robotaxi, against roughly CHF 44 in a conventional Zurich cab. Quite a saving.
Because Iamo is a pilot scheme, it is not integrated into the public-transport fare system. Switzerland’s GA and Half-Fare travelcards cannot be used.
How safe are the cars?
The vehicles travel in ordinary traffic, but they are not yet operating entirely on their own. A safety driver remains behind the wheel, and the front passenger seat is kept empty.
The scheme follows testing that began in the summer of 2025, when the project team produced a detailed map of the area. In November 2025 Switzerland’s Federal Roads Office, known as Astra, authorised automated driving for the trial. The subsequent tests were largely uneventful.
The organisers eventually plan to introduce automated minibuses that can operate without a safety driver. Instead, trained staff would supervise them remotely. That will require further approval from Astra.
Switzerland has been slow to allow driverless taxis. In China and the United States, fully driverless taxis already carry paying passengers without anyone behind the wheel, in some cases over large urban networks and on motorways. China’s Apollo Go and America’s Waymo have each moved well beyond the experimental stage, with large fleets, millions of rides and increasingly routine commercial operations.
American and Chinese firms moved faster, testing at scale and learning from millions of real-world journeys, while Europe’s regulators and carmakers proceeded more cautiously and fell behind.
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