Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer is pursuing the goal of having “vehicles with autonomous driving functions in regular operation” in less than two years. Germany is to become the first country in the world to bring vehicles without a driver from research into everyday life, according to a statement.

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With this, the ministry apparently wants to bring the public up to date for an undertaking that became known in early October. It is unclear how the ministry is responding to the concerns expressed at the time by the Federal Association of the Digital Economy, whether and to what extent the operator of an autonomous car may undertake other activities.

Since 21. June 2017, the law on automated driving applies in Germany, through which systems of autonomy level 3 may take control of driving tasks under certain conditions. A driver is still required for this. According to the announcement, the ministry now wants to create the legal framework so that fully autonomous level 5 vehicles can drive nationwide – but only in certain areas of public road traffic. So far, autonomous cars in public transport may only be operated on digital test fields such as on the A9.

Requirements The Ministry of Transport includes shuttle services, “people movers”, Hub2Hub services, demand-oriented offers in off-peak times, the transport of people and / or goods on the first or to the “certain areas” last mile and “dual mode vehicles” such as Automated Valet Parking (AVP).

The law regulates technical requirements for the construction, condition and equipment of motor vehicles with autonomous driving functions Testing and approval procedure for the Federal Motor Transport Authority. The obligations of those who operate autonomous cars and how the data generated during autonomous driving are processed should also be clarified. “Sleeping functions”, which are already provided in cars for autonomous driving, should be able to be activated later . The aim is that it is decided by the middle of 2021.

(anw)