Chancellor Merkel Says Germany Is Ready To Join Self-Driving Car Trend

Apr 14, 2016 07:07 AM EDT | Tes Christiansen

German roads would soon be flooding with self-driving vehicles after Chancellor Angela Merkel recently announced this week that the government vows to put down legal barriers to make it possible. The country is known in the automotive industry as home to some of the biggest car companies in the world, BMW, Volkswagen, and Daimler to name a few.

The DailyMail UK reported that Chancellor Merkel advised for the industry to arm itself with a timeframe for the capital in developing self-driving cars. Merkel and the ruling coalition hope to meet towards the end of May this year to talk about future projects, including the auto industry's update.

The Chancellor also mentioned that the cabinet could well give the go-signal on the testing of these vehicles with the aid of a legal basis, during a related event in Berlin. "That's not a disputed topic in the coalition," Merkel said.

With global companies striving to build prototypes for self-driving transport, the anticipated mass market release for such vehicles won't be until 2020, though. The government is also eyeing the demand for electric cars in the country, according to the publication.

In a related report on The Guardian, Hubertus Heil, a senior Social Democrats lawmaker, said that he anticipated the coalition's Yes to the measures presented on Wednesday. "I'm optimistic that we can convince finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble tomorrow," Heil said.

Last month, Finance Minister Schäuble said that although the German government is keen to finding a solution to support the electric car movement, it is not an absolute guarantee for the car industry. The country's industry heads have long since tried all efforts to convince the government on the matter of introducing incentives to raise the demand for EVs, and that they have based on the country's reputation in the global car production market, as per the news agency.

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