Press hardening of Al-Si coated 22MnB5 steel is the dominant technology to enable light weight design in automotive applications. Transfer of the Al-Si coating onto the tool surface occurs during hot forming. This affects process economy and quality of produced components. The reported galling mechanisms are adhesion and compaction of wear debris. Surface engineering of forming tools has been proposed to minimise the transfer of Al-Si coating. Plasma nitriding of tool steel surfaces reduces adhesion but has poor abrasive wear resistance. PVD coatings have generally been found to promote galling due to higher chemical affinity but improve abrasive wear resistance. Most studied PVD coatings are transition metal nitrides containing aluminium. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of aluminium in PVD coatings and its effect on transfer of Al-Si coating material during sliding against coated tool steel at high temperatures. This work has focussed on PVD coatings (AlCrN and CrWN) deposited on plasma nitrided tool steel. Their tribological behaviour was studied using a hot strip-drawing tribometer capable of simulating the conditions prevalent in press hardening. The results showed that PVD coatings containing aluminium induce more material transfer. The material transfer is mainly related to chemical affinity since all coatings were polished to a low surface roughness (Sa =~120 nm) to minimise transfer initiated by surface defects. The hardness of the PVD coatings does not seem to influence the material transfer since the softer coating (CrWN, HV0.05 = ~1850) showed less transfer compared to AlCrN (HV0.05 = ~2100). The CrWN coating showed longer running-in compared to AlCrN due to reduced initial material transfer. Formation of thicker transfer layers governs the steady state friction mechanisms. Material transfer of Fe-Al intermetallic compounds occurs at the initial stages of sliding through direct adhesion to the PVD coating. The layers grow to > 5 µm thickness within a few decimetres of sliding.