"He enters a route into his smartphone, taps a button, and rests his hands in his lap. The small car begins to roll, navigating at a leisurely seven kilometers per hour between buildings and parked vehicles. "It can go faster 20 to 25 km/h [12 to 15 mp/h] is no problem," the researcher from Augsburg University of Applied Sciences explains while sitting in the driver's seat only as a safeguard, he notes, ready to take over if something goes wrong."
"Germany has authorized Level 4 autonomy, which allows passengers to sleep, work, or watch movies while traveling provided vehicles operate on preapproved routes or under remote supervision. But according to the German motorists' association ADAC, progress is slow partly because it is absolutely unthinkable for German manufacturers to go into series production with an immature system. And so, while driverless taxis are already a common sight in parts of the United States and China, German deployments remain limited to shuttles and minibuses on fixed, local routes."
An engineer demonstrates a small autonomous car that follows a smartphone-entered route, navigates at low speed, and brakes automatically at destinations. Cameras, radar, LiDAR sensors, and a powerful computer keep the vehicle on course while a human remains in the driver's seat as a safeguard. A coalition of 75 academic and industry partners (NeMo Paderborn) aims to propel German leadership in self-driving technology. High car ownership, a strong taxi lobby, and extensive public transit constrain market entry, and many projects stalled after funding ended. Germany permits Level 4 autonomy on preapproved routes or under remote supervision, but manufacturers resist series production until systems mature, leaving deployments mainly as fixed-route shuttles and minibuses.
Read at www.dw.com
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