London (CNN Business) Five electric Volkswagen cars fitted with the latest in autonomous technology are now driving a section of Hamburg's streets.

The carmaker announced Wednesday that its first tests of vehicles with Level 4 automation in a major German city are underway.

The e-Golf cars Volkswagen is testing are designed to handle complex urban traffic patterns without help from drivers, although they must be ready to intervene. Level 5 automation, the only higher category, requires the vehicle to perform all tasks, turning every rider into a passenger.

The cars are driving three kilometers (1.9 miles) of urban Hamburg roads where new signals and other traffic management systems have been installed to facilitate autonomous driving.

The goal is to upgrade another six kilometers (3.7 miles) of the city's streets by 2020 with the new infrastructure that allows vehicles and traffic management systems to communicate with one another.

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