German Federal government publishes strategy for autonomous driving on public roads

The German Government on Dec 14th, approved the strategy for autonomous driving on public roads in the Cabinet. The strategy is intended to pave the way for autonomous driving in regular operation and create the conditions for further advancing this technology and exploiting the enormous opportunities it offers.

The aim is to further develop Germany into one of the world’s leading innovation and production locations for autonomous driving.

Volker Wissing, Federal Minister of Digital and Transport:

‘Autonomous driving is a key technology for innovative, clean, barrier-free and affordable mobility. With this strategy, we are creating the right, innovation-friendly framework – a framework that needs to be filled with life by business and industry. Together, we will succeed in making autonomous driving something that is taken for granted. Because we are convinced: the future is driving autonomously.’ Germany is a pioneer in the legal framework As the first country worldwide, Germany has created a comprehensive legal framework for autonomous driving. Since 2021, a set of regulations has been in place that enables the use of autonomous motor vehicles on public roads. Since then, autonomous driving systems have been successfully tested in numerous research projects in various applications.

Strategy with a focus on local public transport and freight transport With this strategy, the Federal Government is pursuing the goal of bringing the applicable legal framework for autonomous driving to life. The focus is on road transport. The main areas of application are local public transport and freight transport. Local public transport is an important source of impetus for innovative, autonomous mobility services. In the future, many people will be able to benefit from the technology in this area, and a positive impact on the transport system and climate protection can be achieved. In freight transport, autonomous driving has the potential to make it more efficient, sustainable and safer.

Autonomous driving offers a wide range of opportunities The technologies associated with autonomous and connected driving offer a wide range of opportunities that are of great importance for the mobility of the future. They can help to increase road safety, improve transport links to rural areas and areas remote from urban centres, and enhance the quality of life – including for people with limited mobility.

In the long term, autonomous driving can play an important role in view of the existing shortage of professional drivers.

The widespread introduction of needs-based services will also increase the demand for autonomous vehicles and strengthen the innovative and competitive capacity of the German automotive industry and its suppliers.

The strategy can be downloaded from the following link (in German only)

.https://bmdv.bund.de/SharedDocs/DE/Publikationen/DG/die-zukunft-faehrt-autonom.