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Autonomous driving is a popular subject of discussion in today’s media and, occasionally, a highly emotional one. Proclamations of success from car makers, system partners, and companies whose business models stem from other fields continue to fuel the debate.

Although autonomous driving is characterized (see Chap. ) by the definition for “fully automated” according to BASt [] as well as the quote by Feil [] “self-determination within the scope of an higher (moral) law”, it is possible to come up with a large variety of usage scenarios and specifications for autonomous driving.

The fascination with the promise of automotive autonomy has historically rested primarily on human drivers’ control of the gas pedal, steering wheel and brakes.

If motor vehicles are to be truly autonomous and able to operate responsibly on our roads, they will need to replicate—or do better than—the human decision-making process. But some decisions are more than just a mechanical application of traffic laws and plotting a safe path. They seem to require a sense of ethics, and this is a notoriously difficult capability to reduce into algorithms for a computer to follow.

As agents moving through an environment that includes a range of other road users—from pedestrians and bicyclists to other human or automated drivers—automated vehicles continuously interact with the humans around them. The nature of these interactions is a result of the programming in the vehicle and the priorities placed there by the programmers.

Humans represent knowledge and learning experiences in the form of mental models. This concept from the field of cognitive psychology is one of the central theoretical paradigms for understanding and designing the interaction between humans and technical systems.

Discussions of autonomous land vehicles often invoke the example of air traffic, where the autopilot is responsible for steering except for take-off and landing. The question arises: what can we learn from air traffic? What autonomously flying aircraft and autonomously driving vehicles have in common is that the pilot or driver bears the final responsibility. But, there are a number of differences between road traffic and air traffic (besides their type of locomotion) that make transferring the systems from one to the other impractical.

Autonomous driving (self-driving) vehicles, once just a science fiction dream, are a growing reality. Although not commercially available, rapid advancements in technology are creating a situation where technological development needs are moving beyond the regulatory environment. Technological developments have put pressure on governments to make regulatory changes permitting on-road testing of autonomous vehicles. Nevada became the first government worldwide to provide licenses for the testing and operation of autonomous vehicles in the state albeit under strict conditions.

Transport is an expression for the satisfaction of mobility needs with different means of transportation—for everyday travel, people walk, cycle, drive or take public transport. There are two main groups here: people with a distinct preference for using private vehicles, and people who prefer so-called “ecomobility”—the combination of public transport with walking and cycling.

Tragically, traffic accidents continue to be an everyday aspect of motor vehicle operation as evidenced by statistics.