Germany is known for its forest of signs – and most traffic signs are learned in driving school. But there are rare exceptions that raise questions as you drive past.
The rarest traffic sign in Germany only appears 13 times – and only on about 140 kilometers of motorway north of Munich. So it’s no wonder that hardly anyone knows the sign and its meaning. Tourists traveling on the A9 between Pfaffenhofen and the Holledau junction are particularly concerned about how to behave correctly.
The answer: You can ignore it. This is rarely the case in the road traffic regulations, but it does happen. The so-called landmark signs, which have been placed every 2.5 kilometers along the A9, do not indicate any restrictions or rules.
Rare traffic sign has technical benefits
The signs with the black and white pattern are part of the “Digital Autobahn Test Field” (DTA), which was set up in 2016. The pictogram is used as a guide for autonomous cars that are being tested there. The vehicles’ cameras can use the landmark signs to determine their position with centimeter precision.
In 2016, when the signs were introduced, the then Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt explained: “Automated and networked vehicles navigate the road with high precision. Together with the latest sensors and a digital map accurate to the centimeter, the new signs are another building block on the way to the first fully digitalized and fully networked road.”
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The Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport and the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) have dedicated several pages to the test fields. This includes a page that shows where there are research projects such as the DTA – currently as of August 2021. It talks about 26 test fields and 142 projects in Germany.
The “Digital Test Field Autobahn” is used
The “Digital Highway Test Field” is being promoted by the ministry as a “technology-open offer for industry and research”. According to the ministry, it has established itself as a “nucleus for future developments”. In a study commissioned by the BASt last year, the DTA was rated as a success.
Source: Stern
I’m a recent graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism. I started working as a news reporter for 24 Hours World about two years ago, and I’ve been writing articles ever since. My main focus is automotive news, but I’ve also written about politics, lifestyle, and entertainment.
