The growing requirement for greater vehicle safety, owing to the increasing prevalence of road accidents, is driving the demand for autonomous vehicles in Germany. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.3 million lives are lost every year because of road accidents. Furthermore, road accidents cost several countries 3% of their gross domestic product and they are the leading cause of death for young individuals in the age bracket–5 to 29 years and children.

Owing to the aforementioned factors, Germany became the first country in the world to authorize fully and semi-autonomous driving systems. The government announced in December 2016 that it aims to develop autonomous driving infrastructure in the country. Subsequently, the German Road Traffic Act was amended in June 2017, which enabled drivers to pass of driving control to autonomous vehicles. Nowadays, semi-autonomous vehicles (level 1 to level 3) are running on roads in which steering and acceleration/deacceleration can be easily controlled by the vehicle itself.

For example, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) in collaboration with Navya SAS and EasyMile SAS launched a pilot project in March 2018 for testing autonomous shuttles on Charité’s campus in Berlin. Due to these factors, the value of the German autonomous vehicle market is predicted to rise to $28.0 billion by 2030, while the market will demonstrate a CAGR of 20.2% from 2023 to 2030, as per the estimates of the market research company, P&S Intelligence.

Hence, it can be safely said that the demand for autonomous vehicles will surge sharply in Germany in the coming years, primarily because of the growing requirement for greater vehicle safety in the country.