Draft law enables autonomous driving in Germany

Germany’s federal government has approved a draft law allowing for autonomous cars to be driven on German streets, says Germany Trade & Invest, the federal economic development agency. Crucially within the law, responsibility for mishaps continued to rest firmly in the hands of the driver, but allows for the driver to hand control the vehicle to its own control system in certain situations and for certain periods of time. The draft law also stipulates that the driver must be able to instantly override or de
February 1, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Germany’s federal government has approved a draft law allowing for autonomous cars to be driven on German streets, says 5444 Germany Trade & Invest, the federal economic development agency. Crucially within the law, responsibility for mishaps continued to rest firmly in the hands of the driver, but allows for the driver to hand control the vehicle to its own control system in certain situations and for certain periods of time. The draft law also stipulates that the driver must be able to instantly override or deactivate the system at any time.

In addition, the law would require autonomously driving cars to carry a form of ‘black box’, which would record all driving data and be decisive in disputes over liability should the autonomous driving technology fail.

Germany is already preparing to make autonomous driving a reality. Sections of public highway have been approved as live testing zones, while the country has been active in R&D. The institute for the German Economy believes Germany has registered 58 per cent of all global patents in autonomous driving since 2010.
Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • German authorities use CB-radio message to reduce accidents in roadworks
    April 8, 2014
    Citizen Band radio is proving useful to prevent accidents in Germany’s roadworks. In common with other German Länder (federal regions) with large volumes of commercial vehicles using their trunk road networks, Bavaria had been experiencing high levels of road traffic accidents (RTAs) involving heavy trucks in the vicinity of minor motorway maintenance sites. This was despite the extensive visual warning regulations published in the German federal road safety audit (RSA) guidelines for the protection of site
    Read More
  • Russia looks to ITS to curb congestion and reduce accidents
    May 7, 2015
    Major ITS installations are planned as the Russian capital Moscow grapples with extensive traffic problems. At the end of 2014, Russia’s first complex intelligent transport system (ITS) started easing traffic problems in and around the capital Moscow, following the implementation of the plans by the federal government and the city’s authorities.
    Read More
  • ANPR - cost-efficient traffic management, enforcement and more
    January 23, 2012
    Geoff Collins of Vysionics Intelligent Traffic Solutions talks about the near-term prospects of ANPR. The continued absence of a champion for its cause is preventing digital enforcement technology from delivering the true levels of cost-effectiveness of which it is capable, according to Geoff Collins, sales and marketing director of ANPR specialist Vysionics Intelligent Traffic Solutions.
    Read More
  • Autonomous driving – what can we really expect?
    June 6, 2016
    Dave Marples of Technolution BV looks beyond the hype to the practical implementation of autonomous vehicles. Having looked at the development of this sector for some time, I am concerned about the current state of autonomous driving development as engineering (and marketing) have run way ahead of the wider systemic, and legislative, requirements to support an autonomous future.
    Read More

Highlighted Content