Germany to rush autonomous laws

The German Government has responded to a fatal Tesla crash in the USA by planning to rush autonomous-driving laws through parliament, a German newspaper has reported.

Handelsblatt has reported Germany’s Transport Minister, Alexander Dobrindt, wants to draft laws ready by the end of the month after his country’s carmakers responded to the autonomous Telsa crash with frustration and outrage.

While safety is a big part of the proposal, it’s also seen as a way the Government can give German carmakers like Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Porsche, Opel and Ford of Europe a head start on autonomous development.

Handelsblatt reports the reform is aimed at letting the car drive itself “for a certain time and in certain circumstances”, but that Dobrindt has demanded the legislation specifically include that the car can instruct the driver to resume control at any point.

Another key part of the legislation will be that autonomous cars will be fitted with black-box accident recorders to determine fault and areas of technical improvement in crash situations.

Germany’s push into autonomous cars has the backing of German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who insisted self-driving cars would spark a revolution in personal transport.

“Self-driving cars will usher in a revolution, just like cars taking over from horse-drawn carriages,” she said.

“Carriage makers never made it into the car business. That means German carmakers have to be ready for change, so that jobs don’t migrate overseas. We all know the name Tesla,” Merkel stated.

The loss-making American electric car company has come under fire after a fatal crash where its autonomous driving systems failed to detect a truck travelling the wrong way and out of control.

The crash has Telsa under investigation from three branches of US Government, not to mention under fire from German car-making executives who think Tesla ‘Beta tested’ autonomous technology on customers while they continued development in private proving grounds under controlled circumstances.