LO
ConstraintDriving & mobility2021-07-28
Germany requires a named person to contact the passengers and secure the road when a driverless vehicle stops itself
Bus driveroccupation page →
Event date / reported
2021-07-28
Evidence stage
ConstraintFailure, rollback, regulation or cost is suppressing adoption. Can lower an assessment or widen its uncertainty.
Tasks this bears on
When the route does not go to plan
Road works, a diversion, a flooded underpass, a breakdown in the middle lane — getting the service and the people on it somewhere safe.
Still human-led✓ Evidence-backed
Where this applies
Germany. The Road Traffic Act says the technical supervisor of a vehicle with an autonomous driving function, defined as the natural person who can deactivate the vehicle and approve manoeuvres during operation, must immediately contact the occupants and initiate the measures needed for road safety when the vehicle puts itself into the minimal-risk state. The supervisor may be remote; the law does not say who restores the service or moves passengers onward.
What this means
When a driverless vehicle stops itself in Germany, a person is legally responsible for the passengers in that moment.
What it does not yet show
One country; the person can be remote and the law covers the first response, not the rest of the disruption.
What you can check
Open StVG §1f and find "unverzüglich Kontakt mit den Insassen des Kraftfahrzeugs herzustellen".
Does it change the assessment?
No. The impact index is never moved by a single event. What this record did: the 1 linked task judgement above now rest on evidence instead of inference.
Source
Gesetze im Internet (Federal Ministry of Justice) — Straßenverkehrsgesetz §1f(2) with §1d(3), inserted by the Act on Autonomous Driving of 12 July 2021 (in force 28 July 2021) · verified 2026-10-15 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-10-15 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.