Four days of autonomy on track at InnoTrans 2026
Live demos streamed from Munich, booth demos in Berlin, updates on DRAISY, two stage appearances and political visits. Everything that happened last week in Berlin.
STRASBOURG / MUNICH, October 2, 2026
Futurail exhibited at InnoTrans 2026 at Messe Berlin from 22 to 25 September, showing the full autonomy stack in Hall 7.1a, booth 140. Across four days the team ran live demonstrations from a commuter train in Munich, demonstrated automated shunting with G. Zwiehoff GmbH in the outdoor area, presented the DRAISY project with Lohr, and spoke on two stages.
Futurail is looking forward to continue the conversations that started in Berlin over the coming weeks. In the meantime, if we met and you want to pick up where we left off, reach out to info@futurail.com.
Presenting the FUTURAILDriver
Four times across the week the team walked visitors through the full stack, from perception to precise localisation, running live on the production hardware itself rather than on slides. Each session covered how the sensor set builds a picture of the environment, how the vehicle knows which track it is on, and what it takes to turn both into a movement decision.
Live from a Munich depot with S-Bahn München
S-Bahn München and Futurail are jointly testing an obstacle detection system on class BR 423 trains, starting at the Munich Steinhausen depot. The aim is to better support train drivers in complex operating environments, to prevent collisions, and to resolve operational situations more quickly and more efficiently.
For InnoTrans the team brought Munich to Berlin. Three times, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 12.00, the demonstration ran live on a train in Steinhausen and was streamed straight onto the Futurail booth. Showing it live rather than recorded was a deliberate choice. A video can be edited. A feed from an operating depot cannot. The unexpected heavy rain on Thursday proved the robustness of our system. And the 100+ people gather for each live demo made the response from the industry hard to miss.
Obstacle detection is the starting point rather than the destination. Giving a train an understanding of its surroundings opens the door to much more, from driver assistance, train protection and remote train operation through to higher levels of automation over time.
“I have seen in our depot in Steinhausen what this partner can already do. These are first steps, but with real value.”
René Neuhäuser Managing Director, Production at S-Bahn Munich
Automated shunting on a Zwiehoff road rail vehicle
Together with technology partner G. Zwiehoff GmbH of Rosenheim, which builds road rail vehicles for shunting, maintenance and rescue work, the compact ROTRAC E2 was equipped as a prototype for semi automated operation with a Futurail perception system. The vehicle, designed for pulling loads of up to 250 tonnes, carried the integrated sensor set and compute hardware of FUTURAILDriver, tested successfully ahead of the show.
The system is built for automated movement and obstacle detection in densely occupied depots, and yards, exactly the environments where people work and move alongside vehicles. On Wednesday at 14.00 the two companies presented the prototype jointly in the outdoor area.
"The automation of shunting processes holds enormous efficiency potential for the sector. With the prototype exhibited at the show we demonstrate together with Futurail that Zwiehoff vehicles are already technically prepared today to integrate automated systems seamlessly where customers need them."
Stephan Zwiehoff Managing Director at G. Zwiehoff GmbH
Presenting DRAISY, the very light train, with Lohr
Julien Rat, Head of Rail Division at Lohr Group, presented DRAISY on the booth on the opening day. DRAISY is the very light battery train developed by Lohr with SNCF to revive France's rural lines.
Futurail provides the perception and automation layer, covering obstacle detection, track monitoring, precise positioning and automated vehicle movements around charging.
"A train equipped with a series production lidar set, able to reach its charging point on its own. That is a world first, and we are getting there with Futurail."
Julien Rat Head of Rail Division at Lohr Group
The President of Région Grand Est visits the booth
Franck Leroy, President of Région Grand Est, stopped by the booth to discuss the future of regional rail and the DRAISY project in particular.
Together with partners from Lohr Group, SNCF and Futurail board member Laurent Troger, the conversation turned to the role autonomy can play in making light regional trains more efficient and more attractive to operate, and to how far the technology has already come.
That last point was the most interesting part of the exchange. Many of the building blocks needed for autonomous rail are no longer research topics. They are already being developed, validated on real railway data, demonstrated in real railway environments and integrated on Draisy.
Projects like DRAISY show why this matters. Autonomy is not an end in itself. It can become an important enabler for making regional rail more efficient, more scalable and economically viable.
Our thanks to Franck Leroy and his team for taking the time and for a very open exchange, and to SNCF and Lohr for joining the discussion. It was good to see a shared ambition for the future of regional rail.
Alex, our CEO, on stage
Autonomous Trains. Progress Doesn't Stop When the Hype Does
At the Business France booth, Alex took on the question the whole sector has been circling for a decade. Autonomous trains were announced loudly, then the headlines moved on. The talk argued that the headlines moving on is not the same as the work stopping.
The quiet years are when the unglamorous part happens. Validation on real railway data. Sensors mounted on vehicles that run every day. Safety cases written, argued and rewritten. None of it makes a press cycle, and all of it is what separates a demonstration from a system an operator can actually put into service.
It is companies like Futurail that keep working on the sidelines while the attention is elsewhere. And in the end the progress shows, in projects that get delivered and closed rather than announced, which is the proof that this field keeps developing whether or not anyone is watching.
And a reasonable amount of announcements around automation at InnoTrans showed that we’ve probably passed the trough of the hype cycle.
Flash forward. Start ups in rail, breaking through technologies
Alex presented Futurail on the European booth alongside multiple startups in the rail sector. It is always a pleasure to share a stage with other rail start ups, and the panel made clear how much movement there now is at European level around breakthrough technologies in rail. We are grateful to be part of that and to contribute to it. Nothing is impossible when creative and entrepreneurial people joined industry experts!
The booth party
Beers from France and Bavaria were back on the booth on Wednesday evening, with customers, partners and neighbours from the hall. Thanks to everyone that stopped by!
About Futurail
Futurail is a European deep-tech company developing autonomous driving technology for trains. Its FUTURAILDriver platform combines perception, precise localisation and train control to enable autonomous operation on existing and new railway vehicles.
Founded in 2023 by a team with backgrounds in autonomous driving and mobility, Futurail is headquartered in Strasbourg and Munich. Its mission is to make rail transportation more frequent, reliable and cost-effective by enabling the transition toward autonomous train operation.
Futurail has raised €7.5 million in funding from European and U.S. investors including Asterion Ventures, Leap4, EIT Urban Mobility, Zero Infinity Partners and Heroic Ventures.
Media Contact
Maximilian Schöffer
Co-Founder and CCO of Futurail
info@futurail.com
www.futurail.com
