On Saturday in Zalaegerszeg, the Autóipari Próbapálya Zala Kft. hosted an event to demonstrate on-road testing of autonomous vehicles and to discuss the legal framework needed for their operation. Tanács Zoltán, Hungary’s Minister for Science and Technology, said that experience indicates autonomous vehicles can deliver significant improvements in road safety.
Tanács noted that while autonomous vehicle technologies have advanced rapidly in recent years, they have not yet been widely adopted. He pointed to international experience, citing Waymo: autonomous vehicles in similar services have accumulated more than 300 million kilometers and, according to the company’s data, experienced 80–90 percent fewer serious accidents than human-driven vehicles. The minister said Hungary wants to participate in developing the technology and, together with experts at ZalaZONE, aims to create a legal environment that permits safe, operational, and commercially viable services.
The Green Traffic Cloud project and testing phases
Lerchner István, project leader at Autóipari Próbapálya Zala Kft., presented the Green Traffic Cloud project. The program will carry out on-road tests of autonomous vehicles that could form the basis of future robotaxi and demand-responsive public transport services.
The project involves cooperation with multiple universities and research institutes: Debreceni Egyetem and Szegedi Tudományegyetem will study social aspects of the technology and its effects on passengers; Gábor Dénes Egyetem’s artificial intelligence knowledge center will work on the AI models for environment perception; and the MTA SZTAKI research institute will develop vehicle control-technical research.
Closed-track testing preceded on-road trials at the ZalaZONE facility. Initially, autonomous cars will appear in Zalaegerszeg, where they will be tested in smaller, less busy urban environments. The next stage will be Debrecen, which offers a more complex environment, followed by Budapest with still more complex traffic conditions.
Lerchner emphasized that every on-road test will be supervised by a safety driver capable of intervening if necessary. Later stages of the development program include plans to introduce a robotaxi service and to integrate autonomous vehicles into demand-responsive community transport.
Infrastructure and industry collaboration
Hamar Zoltán, managing director of AVL-ZalaZONE Kft., said the Zalaegerszeg site provides a testing environment used by nearly all European car manufacturers, covering mass-production models and sports cars alike. The track is state-owned and operated in cooperation with AVL, a major engineering services company based in Graz. Services include leasing a 13-element test track, providing offices and vehicle labs, testing interactions between vehicles and their environment, and offering driving-technology training.
After the press briefing, participants had the opportunity to observe and ride in the autonomous vehicles in Zalaegerszeg. In response to an MTI question, Tanács Zoltán said he felt the drive was calm: the car accelerated and braked decisively, maintained appropriate safety distances, and behaved predictably.
Why this matters
The initiative aims not only to test technical solutions but also to prepare Hungary’s legal and business environment so the technology can be deployed safely and commercially. Officials expressed hope that within one to two years autonomous-based services could start in Hungary, a development that may improve both road safety and mobility.
