The Federal Ministry of Justice has initially rejected a draft law by Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) on autonomous driving because of open questions about data protection. This was reported by the Handelsblatt . A spokeswoman for Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) said on Wednesday (20. Jan. 2021) On request, high data protection standards for mobility data and clear liability regulations are central prerequisites from the Ministry’s point of view in order to create acceptance for new technologies and digital services in the transport sector among consumers.

Too little data protection and legal security In addition, the Ministry of Justice sees this as a necessary basic requirement, to create legal security for producers and supplying companies. From the Ministry’s point of view, a number of important questions still need to be clarified.

Like the Handelsblatt reported, the Ministry of Justice refused to give its approval mainly because, according to the draft, data such as routes should be able to be transmitted to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution or the Federal Criminal Police Office on request via the Federal Motor Transport Authority. The Ministry of Justice has identified a corresponding “data transfer regulation” in Scheuer’s legislative plans. The relevant regulations are to be “deleted”, officials of the ministry demanded.

“Blockade technology leadership” Criticism of the Federal Ministry of Justice came from North Rhine-Westphalia’s Transport Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU). “Federal Minister of Justice Christine Lambrecht has to take off the brake when driving autonomously,” said Wüst of the German Press Agency . “The blockade of the bill for robotic vehicles endangers German technology leadership and thus hundreds of thousands of jobs in the automotive industry. We cannot afford that. The federal government must not abandon its plan and must ensure that a law on autonomous driving is passed during this election period. ”

More and more stages of autonomous driving make traffic safer and smoother and thus also bring ecological advantages, according to Wüst. “They must not be sacrificed because of departmental vanities.”

With the law, Scheuer wants to enable autonomous vehicles to be able to drive on public roads in regular operation in the coming years. According to earlier statements by the minister, Germany should take a leading role internationally in autonomous driving.

(fpi)