On 24 June 2022, the German Government adopted the law on autonomous driving. The regulation, known as Autonome-Fahrzeuge-Genehmigungs-und-Betriebs-Verordnung (AFGBV),[1] entered into force on 1 July 2022. Given Germany’s prowess in the car industry and the country’s aspirations to become a “world leader in autonomous driving,” the act will likely have a strong impact on international and EU regulations.
Problem and goal
Recent technological progress in autonomous driving has given rise to a public debate on the required precautions for facilitating technological progress and on the ethical underpinnings (i.e., fairness) for allowing autonomous driving.[2] Autonomous driving requires an appropriate legal framework in order to exploit its potential and to enable a safe and secure participation of the society and of the economy. It is necessary thus to shift from the already testing stages in public roads, to regular operations of autonomous vehicles. However, this shifting needs to be supported and regulated in order to make the mobility of the future more versatile, safer, more environmentally friendly and more user oriented. This is AFGBV main scope:[3] shape a suitable legal framework by supplementing existing regulations of road traffic law to initiate, subject to previous authorization, the regular operation of highly automated vehicles (level 4 of autonomous driving) in Germany.
In what follows are explored various points and functions provided by the Act, such as the role of technical supervisor, autonomous driving function, manufacturer’s obligations, data processing, data protection, accident prevention, etc.
Area of application
According to AFGBV the operation of highly automated vehicles on public roads covers the following scenarios:[4]
- shuttle transports,
- automatic passenger transport systems for short distances
- driverless connections between logistics centres (Hub2Hub transport)
- demand-oriented transport services at off-peak times in rural areas, and
- dual-mode vehicles for example in “automated valet parking” (driver can exit and let vehicle drive itself into garage).
Authorization to operate autonomous vehicles
In order to ensure the existence of certain preconditions, especially of technical nature, for the operation of a motor vehicle with an autonomous driving function in specified operating areas on public roads a permit from the Federal Motor Transport Authority is required (Art. 2 and Art. 4). The request is made by the manufacturer. For having the permit, a number of requirements with regard to the autonomous driving function must be met. In particular, to avoid collisions, a motor vehicle with an autonomous driving function must:[5]
- accomplish the driving task independently within the respective defined operating range in compliance with traffic regulations;
- detect other road users, uninvolved third parties, animals and objects in the vicinity of the motor vehicle with autonomous driving function,
- carry out a risk assessment on the basis of the detection with regard to all legal interests concerned in the use of the road, including the prediction about further behaviors;
- in the event of unavoidable alternative harm to different legal interests, the significance of the legal interests must be taken into account and the protection of human life must have highest priority.
- carry out an appropriate driving maneuver, in particular braking or evasive maneuvers, in accordance with the result of the risk assessment;
- independent delivery of data and, in certain cases, independent suggestions of possible driving maneuvers to the technical supervisor;
- notification to the technical supervisor about the need to activate an alternative driving maneuver or deactivate the vehicle as well as in case of impairment.
The car manufacturer shall provide proof that the electronic and electrical architecture of the vehicle and the electronic and electrical architecture connected to the vehicle are secured against attacks, especially cyber attacks. Additionally, it shall ensure appropriate repair of the vehicle.[6] The Federal Motor Transport Authority is obliged to carry out regular market monitoring of the authorized autonomous vehicles. It can revoke the license if the producer, for example, does not fulfill the underlined preconditions.[7]
Technical Supervisor
According to AFGBV, vehicles with an autonomous driving function no longer require a person to drive the vehicle during operation. However, in order to ensure compliance with current international regulations, a responsible person is required. This function is filled by the newly introduced “technical supervisor”. The technical supervisor is a natural person, who is responsible for ensuring that the obligations under road traffic law are complied with at all times, even if permanent monitoring of the driving operation is not required.
Responsibilities include activities such as activation of alternative driving maneuvers, assessment of transmitted data of vehicles and taking the necessary measures for traffic safety including immediate deactivation of the autonomous driving function in case of technical problems, contacting the passengers, etc. [8]
Data Processing
The requirements for data processing requires that the vehicle owner is obligated to store the following data when operating the vehicle:[9]
- Vehicle identification number
- Position data and environmental and weather conditions
- Number and times of use including activation and deactivation of the autonomous driving function
- System monitoring data and networking parameters
- Name of activated and deactivated passive and active security systems
- Speed and vehicle acceleration in longitudinal and transverse direction
- Status of the lighting equipment and power supply of vehicle
- Commands and information sent externally to vehicle
The aforementioned has to be stored in the following events:
- Intervention by the technical supervisor
- Conflict scenarios, especially in accidents and near-accident scenarios
- Failure to change lanes or swerve as planned
- Disruptions in operating process
- Reparatory for monitoring the safe operations of the vehicle;
The Regulation ’s design suggests that the exchange of data will be massive given the concept of technical oversight. However, the law needs to be interpreted by integrating already existing frameworks at the European and national levels, especially in already existing legislation on data protection, such as the GDPR. In particular, the manufacturer is obliged to inform the vehicle owner precisely, clearly and in plain language about the privacy settings and the processing of data when driving autonomously. [10]
Concerns
Germany’s act sets the stage to create a legal framework for autonomous driving at higher levels, indicating a potential shift of priorities toward higher levels of autonomy before implementing hybrid types, blurring responsibilities between humans and machines. However, several details of autonomous driving remain to be worked out either by later amendments and changes to the law or by jurisprudence. [11] This effort includes primarily the integration of ethics and transparency into autonomous driving solutions, protection against cyberattacks as well as the interpretation of non-discrimination in connection with unavoidable crash situations.
[1] Autonome-Fahrzeuge-Genehmigungs-und-Betriebs-Verordnung – AFGBV https://www.buzer.de/AFGBV.htm
[2] Alexander Kriebitz, The German Act on Autonomous Driving: Why Ethics Still Matters https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-022-00526-2
[3] Bundesrat (24.02.2022) Verordnung zur Regelung des Betriebs von Kraftfahrzeugen mit automatisierter und autonomer Fahrfunktion und zur Änderung straßenverkehrsrechtlicher Vorschriften, p.1, https://dserver.bundestag.de/brd/2022/0086-22.pdf
[4] See Art. 1.
[5] See Art. 3 (8)
[6] See Art. 12
[7] See Art. 5 and 6
[8] See Art. 14
[9] See Art. 15; See also Annex 2.
[10] See Art. 5 and 13 GDPR.
[11] Alexander Kriebitz, The German Act on Autonomous Driving: Why Ethics Still Matters https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-022-00526-2