Will looser autonomous driving law let Germany catch up with China and U.S.?

On 1 December, Germany implemented the Straßenverkehr-Fernlenk-Verordnung (SFV). For the first time in Germany – and Europe – it allows cars on all public roads without a driver behind the wheel. Crucially, these vehicles still need to be remotely controlled.

Tele-Fahrer

This new law expands on the Autonomous Driving Act of 2021, which permitted Level-4 driverless operation, but within strictly defined areas only. Some specifics of the SFV:

There is still human oversight, but no driver present in the car. Cars, buses and vans will be steered remotely by a so-called ‘Tele-Fahrer’.
This regulation explicitly supports the development of new mobility concepts such as robotaxis, autonomous shuttles, and car-sharing logistics (e.g. cars repositioning themselves after a ride).
Safety measures (e.g. very short latency of end-to-end communication) are designed to mitigate any risks.
This regulation is a five-year trial framework to evaluate safety, technology, and business models. Permanent legislation will be enacted after this period.
So, while not yet authorizing fully autonomous vehicles on the road, the SFV does open a testing regime that foresees supervised autonomy to transition into full autonomy in the future.

Connecting rural areas

Following the 2021 law, Germany rapidly developed into the hub for Level-4 autonomous driving pilots in Europe, mainly focused on shuttles and public transport (unlike the U.S. and China pilots, which mainly focus on robotaxis).

Some prominent pilots in Germany:

The KIRA project: driverless shuttles in the Rhein-Main region, connecting rural areas to public transport. Supported in part by Deutsche Bahn.
A company called Holon has received permission to test autonomous driving on public roads – with a ‘safety driver’.
NoWeL4: Berlin’s transport authority BVG is testing a large autonomous shuttle fleet.
VW subsidiary Moia is working towards offering its ridepooling services in Hamburg and Berlin autonomously after 2025.
By enabling driverless autonomy (albeit with remote oversight), the SFV is designed to accelerate field experiments in Germany, such as teleoperated delivery vans and on-demand buses, or expanded robotaxi pilots. That could inject some much-needed dynamism into the autonomous driving ambitions of Germany’s car brands.

Excellent ADAS

While Germany leads Europe in terms of pilot numbers (with about 15 projects up and running), it is China and the U.S. who dominate the autonomous field at a global level.

In China, Baidu Apollo Go, Pony.ai, and WeRide deploy thousands of robotaxis in multiple cities, benefiting from subsidies and rapid scaling.

In the U.S., Waymo operates the largest commercial robotaxi fleets, with millions of paid rides; and rivals like Cruise and Tesla are advancing rapidly.

German manufacturers such as Mercedes, BMW, and Volkswagen do excel in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), but lag in large-scale Level-4 robotaxi services, focusing more on testing than commercial rollout.

By enabling real-world data collection and hybrid teleoperation-autonomy models, the SFV positions Germany to close the gap with other countries and companies more advanced in autonomous driving.

It creates clarity for the industry, which now can develop the tools it needs to advance with autonomous driving.

However, by stopping short of full autonomy, the law as it stands today will only allow Germany to get to a better third place in terms of safe autonomous public transport by 2030. Catching up with the U.S. and China in scale and know-how of robotaxi deployment will require more than this.