We recently reported that Chinese company, Pony.ai recently got the permit to test their driverless vehicles in California, and they have been functional in some other countries for some time now.

 Even though autonomous driving is currently permitted in the country, the permit would allow the operation of automobiles without the presence of a human behind the steering.

This will go a long way to encourage companies to deploy robotaxis and delivery services all over the country.

The bill passed the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament last week and looks specifically at Level 4 autonomy vehicles. By Level 4 autonomy, it means a designation of Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE) where the computer handles the driving in some certain areas of the environment.
In the future, autonomous vehicles will also be able to operate in the country without having physically present drivers.

However, it is not totally over as the bill will also need to pass through the upper chamber of parliament, or the Bundesrat.
There will also be set aside rules and guidelines to companies who look to operate self-driven vehicles such as having access to stop autonomous operations remotely and carrying liability insurance.
In countries like China, Alibaba backed AutoX is also testing self-driven commercial vehicles and Chinese robotaxi startup Pony.ai last week became the eight company to be granted driverless permit to test vehicles in California.