PRESS STATEMENT: LAW GOVERNING AUTONOMOUS DRIVING

Erfurt, 28 May 2021 - The Federal Council of Germany today approved a bill on autonomous driving in Germany. Prof. Dr. Christian Lucas, Professor of General Business Administration with a focus on Marketing and Head of Marketing Management at IU International University of Applied Sciences, explains:

"The future of the automotive industry is determined by the four main topics of electromobility, connectivity, sharing and autonomous driving. Each of these topics offers new and previously non-industry-specific companies the opportunity to enter and conquer the market through disruptive innovations. The existence of German automotive companies is threatened due to this. Companies such as Tesla, Google Waymo or Apple are only the visible tip of the iceberg; other companies are currently working on their own solutions.

Germany is the first country in the world to create the legal framework for fully autonomous driving, thereby facilitating the faster advancement of this new technology. A factor that is particularly crucial for the sale of such autonomous vehicles. After all, a customer will only invest in this new technology if he also trusts it! A study with students from the IU International University of Applied Sciences and over 4200 participants now shows that it is especially German car manufacturers that are currently trusted the most: 43.8% have trust in this technology in German cars, while only 25.5% have this trust in US cars and only 20.2% in Korean cars. It is essential to maintain and expand this lead in trust."

IU Mobility Kompass annually examines the attitudes of young German students to mobility issues, with a focus on electromobility. The results of the current year are expected to be published by the end of the third quarter of 2021.