Germany – Truck & Bus Builder attended ‘Bus2Bus’ for the very first time this year since the show’s debut in 2017. It is a biannual event which was postponed in 2021 due to COVID-19; for the 2024 edition (24-25 April), as in previous years, it was held at the Messe Berlin, in the city which is the administrative heart of Europe’s most industrialised nation. As such, the show was geared towards government officials and representatives of local authorities rather than bus enthusiasts and day trippers; one of the most distinguished guests at this year’s show was Dr Volker Wissing, the Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport. However, the country of iron and steel is keen to prove that it has a lively startup scene, and during the press tour we were introduced to multiple tech firms situated in a dedicated “startup area”.

Many of these companies were more concerned with enhancing the passenger experience than meddling with the technology of the bus itself. Two firms (vJourney and Spot AR) presented variations on the theme of virtual travel: either with a headset or a smartphone, the user “explores” a foreign destination which is pulled up in front of his eyes or onto his screen, simulating the experience of travelling abroad for those who are less mobile or otherwise unable to go on a real journey. AJency GmbH had a different mission: to tackle the chronic issue of driver shortages with its dedicated recruitment platform. Two startups may be already familiar to readers of T&BB: Sono Motors, which was rescued from bankruptcy earlier this year; and Imagry, which we made the subject of a feature article published last September.