Autonomous driving on highways should be possible in the middle of the coming decade for private cars. At least BMW and Daimler have now formulated this as a development goal.
From 2024, BMW and Daimler want to launch fully automated passenger cars for private customers on the market. This is one of the goals of the now signed development cooperation for robotic cars. The announced models should be able to drive autonomously on highways without permanent human surveillance and also be able to park independently. Later, the machine will take over permanently in-town tax.
This requires assistance at the level 4. Current production models reach Level 2, theoretically also Level 3. In both cases, the driver must be constantly ready to intervene, steering wheel and pedals remain on board. The long-term goal remains the development of level 5 vehicles that can drive automatically anytime, anywhere and get by without tax.