Weekly Brief: Germany Takes Aim at Driverless Tech Dominance – TU Automotive

Germany is the first country in the world to legalize fully autonomous vehicles on public roads. The landmark legislation passed both the lower and upper chambers of Germany's parliament last week with a comfortable majority. The legislation will allow Level 4 autonomous vehicles to operate on public roads in Germany without drivers behind the wheel and without obtaining special permits. The new legal framework mandates that autonomous vehicles must be manufactured and maintained in accordance with new, yet-to-be-crafted technical requirements. In addition, the law calls for technical command centers where live supervisors will oversee each fleet of self-driving cars and have the ability to control and deactivate them remotely when problems arise.