The German fully autonomous vehicles market is predicted to exhibit a CAGR of 20.2% between 2020 and 2030 andattain a valuation of $28.0 billion by 2030, as per the estimates of P&S Intelligence, a market research firm. The German autonomous vehicles market is being driven by the increasing implementation of various government initiatives that encourage the deployment of autonomous vehicles in the country and the rising requirement for a more efficient and safer driving option all over the country.

The German government was the first one in the entire world to authorize fully and semi-autonomous driving systems. The government announced its plans to build autonomous driving facilities and infrastructure in the country in December 2016. This was followed by an amendment to the Road Traffic Act in June 2017, which allowed drivers to give away driving controls to autonomous vehicles. As a result, there are many semi-autonomous automobiles (level 1—3) running on German roads today.

In these vehicles, the steering and acceleration/deceleration can be controlled and operated by the vehicle itself but the driver is required to be on board so that in emergency situations, he/she can take over the driving controls. Furthermore, major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and technology developers are focusing on developing level 4 and level 5 autonomous vehicles. Moreover, they have got approval from the regulatory bodies for testing driverless automobiles on public roads.

Some cities in Germany have allowed these OEMs to operate pilot fleets in isolated areas for testing the autonomous technology. Regular road traffic will be recreated in these isolated areas for testing the real-time reliability and performance of these vehicles. For example, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) in collaboration with Navya SAS and EasyMile SAS began a pilot projectin March 2018 for testing autonomous shuttle. This shuttle would be tested on Charité’s campus in Berlin.