The new German bill on automated vehicles – and the resulting liability changes

Abstract

On 21 June 2017, Germany enacted a bill legalizing automated vehicles (hereinafter referred to as “AV Bill”). The AV Bill modified the German Road Traffic Act (Straßenverkehrsgesetz, “StVG”) and defined the requirements for highly and fully automated vehicles to use public roads. It further addressed the rights and duties of the driver when activating the automated driving mode.

The AV Bill did not change the general liability concept under German law. Therefore, both the driver and the “owner” (Halter) remain liable even if the vehicle is in automated driving mode. However, the driver will be able to avoid liability if he/she lawfully used the automated driving mode. Automated vehicles must be equipped with a black box to identify whether the driver or the system had control at the time of an accident. Since this will help the driver/owner (or, in practice, the owner’s insurance company) to prove that the vehicle – and not the driver – caused the accident, the relevance of German product liability rules is likely to increase. As a consequence, the relationship between insurers and car manufacturers will change.

In addition to liability issues, many legal questions, especially regarding data privacy, remain to be solved. Finally, since automated driving is permitted within the limits of the “intended use” (as defined by the individual car manufacturer), this will likely be one of the key differentiators between car manufacturers in Germany.