Unikie has staged what it calls a world-first demonstration of automated rail-car loading at Audi's Ingolstadt plant, building on automated vehicle movements the Volkswagen Group first ran at its Emden port terminal in 2025.

The trial, run with Volkswagen Group Logistics, saw finished vehicles drive themselves onto and off rail wagons under software control. Ingolstadt is Audi's headquarters and its largest production site, making the location a high-profile test bed for any group-wide rollout.

"I am delighted that we have experienced a world premiere here in Ingolstadt," said Peter Hörndlein, Managing Director Vehicle Logistics at Volkswagen Group Logistics. "We have built a test field where we were able to demonstrate automated loading of passenger cars onto a train platform and bring the process closer to series production."

What does the Marshalling Solution do?

Dispatching finished vehicles from plant to customer typically requires repeated manual handovers between drivers, yard staff and rail operators. Rail loading adds a further constraint: centimetre-precise positioning inside the narrow envelope of a wagon.

Unikie's Marshalling Solution targets that environment directly. The software steers vehicles through tight, congested yards and onto rail platforms without a driver on board. The same code underpinned the Emden port trial in 2025, which the group used as a starting point for automated flows across its finished-vehicle logistics network.

The shift from a seaport to a plant rail yard widens the operating envelope. Port terminals are open, flat and purpose-built for vehicle handling. Ingolstadt is a working assembly complex with mixed traffic, tight ramps and limited buffer space. If the system holds up there, the group has a stronger case for rolling it out across the network.

Who else is involved?

The work sits inside AutoLog, a research project funded under Germany's IHATEC II programme, the federal transport ministry's second funding round for innovative hub and port technologies. Four partners share the programme:

• Deutsche Telekom
• Unikie
• Volkswagen Group Logistics
• BIBA, the Bremen institute for production and logistics

The mix covers the main moving parts of automated marshalling. Deutsche Telekom supplies the connectivity layer. Unikie provides the vehicle-control software. Volkswagen Group Logistics brings the operational use case. BIBA contributes research and evaluation.

What still has to happen?

No deployment timeline has been published. Hörndlein's reference to bringing the process "closer to series production" signals that routine use has yet to begin. The Emden trial in 2025 is the only confirmed earlier deployment within the group.

For Unikie, the next test is whether the Marshalling Solution can run at the cadence of a real dispatch yard, not just a controlled field, and whether it can clear the safety and operational review needed before cars produced at scale at Ingolstadt move without a driver in the cab.

Watch next: a series-production deployment date for Ingolstadt or another VW Group plant, a published cycle-time benchmark for automated rail loading, and any update on the IHATEC II programme's remaining work packages.