Overview of Test Permits for Autonomous Vehicles in Germany

From California, we know how many permits have been issued for testing autonomous vehicles and who is conducting the tests there. We also know what incidents have occurred, exactly what happened, and when they took place. This detailed data has been available for years on the website of the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

The German Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrtbundesamt) also provides information on testing of Level 3 and Level 4 systems on its official website. Under “Test Permits,” there is a list of all manufacturers that hold a test permit in Germany. The following information reflects the status as of February 11, 2026.

A total of 236 test permits have been issued, with each permit valid for one vehicle. Of these 236 permits, 153 apply to Level 3 and 83 to Level 4. The latter generally refers to an autonomous vehicle, such as the Waymo robotaxi in the U.S. Level 3 is essentially a driver-assistance system on steroids that still requires a driver on board.

For Level 3, the following permit holders have the following number of vehicles:

License Holder	Number of Permits	Geographical Limitation of the Test Area
Audi	36	Nein
AVL	1	Nein
BMW	50	Ja
TU Berlin	1	Ja
GT-ARC	1	Ja
Hyundai	4	Ja
Mercedes Benz	35	Ja
Bosch	6	Ja
TOPAS	1	Nein
Uni Bremen	1	Ja
Wayve	12	Nein
Zentrum für KI	1	Ja
ZF	4	Ja
Summe	153

For Level 4, the following license holders have the following number of vehicles:

License Holder	Number of Permits	Geographical Limitation of the Test Area
ADASTEC	1	Ja
ADC	1	Ja
Deutsche Bahn	8	Ja
FZI	2	Ja
HS Heilbronn	1	Ja
Holon	4	Nein
LOXO	1	Ja
MAN	3	Ja
Mobileye	4	Ja
Motor AI	1	Ja
Bosch	1	Ja
Schwarz Mobility Solutions	1	Ja
TH Augsburg	1	Nein
TH Braunschweig	1	Nein
Volkswagen	43	Nein
ZF	10	Nein
Summe	83

This article was also published in German.