TIER IV funds Autoware research center at Technical University of Munich

The partnership builds on TUM’s EDGAR autonomous research vehicle, which demonstrated public rides at IAA MOBILITY 2025 and rapid deployment in Berlin for a Level‑4 assessment with TÜV‑Verband. The center will pursue three focus areas: a hybrid safety architecture that blends deep‑learning driving models with rule‑based supervision and a “safety guardian”; a benchmarking and verification framework for component and system testing; and a repeatable process for adapting Autoware to new environments. Researchers will also provide doctoral training and open‑source contributions.

Shinpei Kato, founder and CEO of TIER IV, said the collaboration creates open benchmarks and technologies that European OEMs can use to develop safe, scalable autonomous systems. Johannes Betz, TUM professor, highlighted the blend of learning‑based and rule‑based methods to keep systems verifiably safe.