Holon is an OEM headquartered in Paderborn, Germany, focusing on the development and production of fully electric, L4-level autonomous shuttle buses. The company was founded in 2022, incubated as part of the strategic transformation of the Austrian automotive parts supplier BENTELER Group, which has nearly 150 years of history, aiming to expand its business from traditional tier-one automotive parts supply to the new mobility sector. That same year, the company completed a brand restructuring and officially began operations under the name Holon.
At the capital level, Holon received strategic investment from Tasaru Mobility Investments, headquartered in Saudi Arabia, as a minority shareholder. In 2024, the institution completed the acquisition of a minority stake in Holon's business, with an investment amount of several million euros, to support the series development and industrialization promotion of autonomous shuttle vehicles. The BENTELER Group also holds a majority stake in Holon and is responsible for providing engineering design and global production capacity support.
Currently, Holon has about 50 competitors, with business covering the development and manufacturing of autonomous shuttle vehicles, as well as providing supporting services such as safety and operation management systems. The company is positioned as one of the earliest full-vehicle manufacturers focusing on autonomous mobility, and its products possess safety standards consistent with the automotive industry and scaling potential.
The Holon brand can be traced back to 2022. That year, the BENTELER Group announced the establishment of a brand new autonomous mobility brand Holon, marking the group's formal strategic extension from the traditional automotive parts sector into the new mobility solutions field.
In January 2023, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Holon completed the global launch of its brand and first product, releasing the fully electric, inclusively designed L4-level autonomous shuttle vehicle Holon Mover (later renamed Holon Urban). Its exterior and interior design were handled by the famous Italian design company Pininfarina, the autonomous driving system was provided by Mobileye under Intel, and the operational platform and service technology were provided by US mobility service provider Beep. This product was officially described as "one of the first autonomous buses in the world to meet automotive industry standards", setting new standards in safety, ride comfort, and production quality.
In 2024, Holon further accelerated the industrialization process. In May, the company received equity investment approval from Tasaru Mobility Investments, specifically for shuttle series development and industrialization promotion. In September, the company announced the construction of its first overseas production factory in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, marking the substantial start of its global layout.
2025 was a year of multiple key breakthroughs for Holon. In May, former Yunex Traffic head Markus Schlitt took over as Holon's CEO. In July, the company reached strategic cooperation agreements respectively with ride-hailing platform Lyft, planning to deploy autonomous shuttle vehicles in the US market by the end of 2026. In October, the company signed an agreement with Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) to build its first production factory in the US, with an investment of $100 million. The factory is expected to have an annual capacity of 5,000 units, and it is planned to increase capacity to 12,000 units after adding a second shift. In November, the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) approved Holon to test the Holon Urban electric shuttle in autonomous mode nationwide in Germany, with the vehicle first scheduled to be put into test operation in Hamburg.
Entering 2026, Holon continued to make efforts in organizational structure and market layout. In January, the company expanded its management team, appointing Martin Lischka to oversee global sales and marketing, and Jonas Seyfferth for strategic planning, aiming to drive entry into the three core markets of Europe, the US, and Gulf countries. In February, the company reached strategic cooperation with US mobility platform CharterUP, promoting scalable deployment of autonomous shuttles in US campuses, airports, bus systems, and other scenarios. In March, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority ordered the first batch of 14 autonomous shuttle vehicles from Holon and reserved up to 100 units of future procurement quotas.
Holon's current core product is Holon Urban, a fully electric, L4-level autonomous shuttle bus designed specifically for public transportation. This product is currently the only model available for sale by the company, but multiple operating modes have been developed for different application scenarios.
Holon Urban's Technical Specifications and Design: The vehicle is equipped with a complete sensor suite, including LiDAR, millimeter-wave radar, and cameras, achieving L4-level autonomous driving, meaning the vehicle can complete all driving tasks without human intervention within a specific operational design domain (ODD), but still equipped with a safety driver for monitoring during the testing phase. The maximum speed is 60 km/h, and the range is about 290 km. The vehicle adopts a boxy shape designed by Pininfarina, the interior focuses on barrier-free accessibility design, can perform automatic ramp operation, is equipped with a safe wheelchair space, and provides auxiliary functions for visually and hearing impaired passengers. The vehicle can accommodate up to 15 passengers (9 seats + 6 standing positions).
In terms of power batteries, BorgWarner has signed a battery system supply contract with Holon, which is the first contract where BorgWarner provides battery technology for autonomous vehicles produced in North America. Each Holon Urban is equipped with two completely identical 57kWh battery packs, with a total battery capacity reaching 114kWh. The battery system adopts a modular design, uses cylindrical Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) cells, equipped with stainless steel battery casing and compact active liquid cooling system, complying with the "Buy American" Act requirements and meeting Foreign Entities of Concern (FEoC) restrictions.
Application Scenarios: Holon Urban supports multiple operating modes, including fixed-route public transportation, on-demand mobility services, carpooling, campus commuting, airport shuttle, intrapark traffic, freight, and other application scenarios. In the ALIKE project in Hamburg, the vehicle operates in the form of "Ridepooling" (carpooling style): The IT system aggregates bookings with similar destinations, allowing passengers to share the same shuttle vehicle and be sent directly to the destination, serving as a supplement to traditional public transportation.
Currently, Holon has not announced any other models besides Urban, but the company stated that it will rely on platform technology development to launch product lines targeting more niche scenarios in the future, covering uses such as logistics trailers.
As a startup brand, Holon has not yet formed publicly disclosed scaled operating revenue data, but has achieved a series of substantial progress in market expansion and commercial deployment.
North American Market: The North American market is Holon's most important development front line currently. In October 2025, Holon signed an agreement with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) to build its first US production factory in the East Port Industrial Park in Jacksonville, Florida, covering an area of 580,000 square feet. Groundbreaking is expected in April 2026, and trial production debugging will be completed in the second half of 2027. After the factory is built, it will serve the JTA's "Ultimate Urban Circulator (U²C)" project, planning to deploy up to 100 autonomous shuttle vehicles in phases in Jacksonville city center and surrounding communities. In March 2026, JTA officially placed an order for the first batch of 14 shuttle vehicles.
In terms of commercial deployment, in July 2025, US ride-hailing platform Lyft announced a strategic partnership with BENTELER Mobility, planning to deploy Holon brand autonomous shuttles on the Lyft platform by the end of 2026. Initially, cooperation will be with airports and city management authorities, and future operational scale is expected to expand to thousands of vehicles. In February 2026, Holon signed a strategic partnership with US mobility platform CharterUP, integrating Holon's 360-degree all-round mobility solution into CharterUP's AI mobility platform covering the nation. The latter currently manages over 8,000 manually driven fleets. This cooperation will promote the scaled deployment of autonomous shuttles in scenarios such as campuses, airports, bus systems, and communities.
European Market: In November 2025, Holon obtained nationwide test permission from the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) and can test the Holon Urban electric shuttle in public transportation within Germany. The vehicles will be tested and operated in Hamburg as part of the ALIKE project. The project will last until October 2026, receiving €26 million in funding from the Federal Ministry of Transport. In addition to Holon, partners include Hamburg Transport Authority, Hamburg Hochbahn, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (Moia), and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. According to Hamburg's plan, up to 10,000 autonomous shuttle vehicles may be put into operation on the city's roads by 2030.
In addition, in September 2025, Holon debuted Holon Urban at international exhibitions such as Munich IAA Mobility and Boston APTA TRANSform, gaining widespread attention.
Holon's technology system consists of three core capabilities: L4-level autonomous driving technology platform, full-vehicle intelligent manufacturing capability, and 360-degree integrated mobility solution.
Level 4 Autonomous Driving Technology: Holon Urban is equipped with the autonomous driving system provided by Mobileye. The vehicle is equipped with an omnidirectional sensor suite, including LiDAR, millimeter-wave radar, and visual cameras, supporting driving tasks without driver intervention, while safety drivers play a monitoring role. Vehicle design complies with automotive industry safety standards and can handle various traffic scenarios, including collision avoidance, construction zone passage, crosswalk recognition, emergency vehicle recognition, intersection passage, obstacle avoidance, and congested road conditions, etc. The company has applied to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for a temporary exemption from certain vehicle driving control device requirements.
Full-vehicle Intelligent Manufacturing and PLM Digital Platform: Relying on the BENTELER Group's nearly 150 years of automotive engineering and manufacturing experience, Holon adopts a flexible intelligent manufacturing concept and can produce multiple vehicle versions on the same assembly line. In 2025, Holon deployed the Windchill+® Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software as a Service (SaaS) solution provided by PTC, building a fully digital product development environment within six months, replacing traditional manual and paper processes with a modern cloud platform. Through the cloud PLM platform, R&D centers in Germany and the US and future manufacturing bases can achieve efficient collaboration, accelerating products from design to scaled mass production.
360-degree Integrated Mobility Solution: Holon's core competitiveness lies not only in hardware manufacturing but also in the one-stop mobility solution provided around the shuttle. In 2025, the BENTELER Group completed the acquisition of ioki, a mobility service provider under German Railway Company (Deutsche Bahn). The latter provides on-demand mobility platforms and route planning technology, specializing in integrating autonomous shuttles into public transportation systems. After the acquisition, ioki, together with BENTELER Mobility and Holon, formed Europe's first integrated full-service provider covering vehicles, software, operations, and financing. Holon implements a partner-based business model, providing 360-degree all-round services covering vehicles, software, operation management, fleet automation services, and financing options.
In terms of core component support, BorgWarner provides battery systems for Holon Urban. This is its first time supplying battery technology for autonomous vehicles produced in North America. Battery production will begin in the second quarter of 2027 in South Carolina, then shipped to Jacksonville factory to complete vehicle assembly.
Holon treats globalized production and market expansion as core strategies, and has currently carried out systematic layouts in three major regions: North America, Europe, and the Middle East.
North America: North America is Holon's most important strategic market currently. The company has set up its US operational headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida, and selected the East Port Industrial Park to build its first overseas production factory. It covers about 580,000 square feet, with groundbreaking expected in April 2026 and trial operation in the second half of 2027. The factory can produce 5,000 autonomous shuttle vehicles annually with a single shift, and capacity can be increased to 12,000 units after adding a second shift. Products will fully comply with US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), "Buy American" Act (BABA) requirements, and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility standards. At the operational deployment level, Holon has reached strategic cooperation with two mobility platforms, Lyft and CharterUP, planning to achieve large-scale deployment of autonomous shuttles respectively through ride-hailing networks and group travel networks.
Europe: Europe is the location of Holon's headquarters and an important test base. The company has established its global headquarters and R&D center in Paderborn, Germany. In Germany, Holon has already launched on-road testing for the ALIKE project in Hamburg. In addition, the company has also reached a cooperation with Rhine-Main Transport Association (RMV), planning to carry out test operations in the Rhine-Main region of Frankfurt. The company stated that it will also build production facilities in Europe simultaneously. It is expected that the global layout of three major production bases in the US, Europe, and the Middle East will be formed.
Middle East and Gulf Region: The Middle East and Gulf region, as well as the Asia-Pacific market, are also listed by Holon as strategic expansion directions. In the company management structure, Gulf countries have been explicitly included as core markets. At the Jacksonville factory groundbreaking ceremony, Holon CFO Clemens Rengier stated that the factory will supply markets in Europe, the Middle East, and even Japan. A delegation from the Highway Industry Development Organization of Japan also inspected Holon's autonomous driving technology on-site at that time.
Looking to the future, Holon has established a strategic goal of starting scaled mass production in 2027 and achieving global commercialization, planning to promote autonomous mobility from pilot projects to regular traffic.
Production and Capacity: The first US factory is expected to officially start production in the second half of 2027. Initial annual capacity is 5,000 units, and long-term capacity can reach 12,000 units. Holon aims to achieve a TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) reduction of about 60% in the second half of the 2020s through scaled production, making the economics of autonomous shuttles competitive with manually driven transportation. Holon plans to promote tens of thousands of autonomous shuttles to operate on roads worldwide by 2030.
Tech and Operations Integration: With the comprehensive deployment of the PLM digital platform, Holon has the capability to quickly shift products from design to mass production, with the goal of achieving scaled, sustainable, and daily autonomous mobility within five years. Through BENTELER Mobility's capabilities in vehicle ownership, financing, and fleet operation management, as well as ioki's software strength in on-demand mobility platforms and route planning, Holon can provide operators with a full-chain solution from vehicle purchase, financing to operation and maintenance, significantly reducing clients' initial investment risks in deploying autonomous mobility services.
Global Expansion: Holon has currently defined three core markets - Europe, the US, and Gulf countries, and will gradually launch autonomous mobility solutions in these regions in a steady manner. After the Jacksonville factory starts production, the company will simultaneously promote production facility construction in Europe and the Middle East, forming a global supply network with three continents coordinating supply. At the application level, Holon will focus on diversified customer scenarios such as public transportation agencies, municipal authorities, airports, university campuses, medical institutions, national parks, etc., promoting autonomous shuttles from pilot projects to normalized commercial operations.
With the landing of German KBA nationwide test permission, the construction start of the US factory, and the deployment plan advancement of partners like Lyft and CharterUP, Holon is transforming from a startup autonomous shuttle vehicle manufacturer into a scaled mobility solution provider facing the global market.
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