Well, it’s been open for almost two weeks now – the “Living Lab Aachen” (Erlebniswelt Mobilität Aachen – EMA) pop-up store at Aachen’s Market Place (Markt) – and so many curious visitors have already popped in. “It’s especially full at the weekends,” says Peter Gronostaj, head of Aachen’s Science Office. Visitors appear to be most interested in the topic of automated driving.

And one of the exhibits in the store picks up on this: a table that can tell the future! It was specially designed and manufactured by the company Dialego, who have, in the meantime, even patented it. On a digital map, little gameboard pieces illustrate – among other things – the future of public means of transport and shared mobility. Here, you can see how the trend towards a “sharing community” will keep growing and how the public transport network will be expanded. And where it all began is also revealed when you move the minibus onto the “Yesterday” square. In Aachen’s city centre in 1880, a horse-drawn tram can still be seen. Today Aachen boasts a total of 101 bus lines that transport over 71,000 people a year. Behind the wheel, a bus driver, of course. But even that will eventually become a thing of the past, too. Starting in 2020, half-automated buses will be tested in Aachen – all in protected areas, of course. And, for the time being, there will still be a driver, although he or she will have less and less to do as the years pass.

All pie in the sky!? Why not drop in and find out for yourself – at the Living Lab Pop-Up Store at Markt 1, open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11 am – 5 pm until 20th December 2018!