Current status of autonomous driving
The future of autonomous driving depends on highly reliable, safe, and continuous positioning services — especially in today’s geopolitical climate, where intentional signal disruptions like jamming and spoofing are on the rise. While existing Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)-based Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as Galileo and GPS, enable basic navigation, they do not provide accountable, guaranteed services required for the commercial deployment of autonomous vehicles.
Moreover, the purchase of GNSS correction data — as currently needed for MEO-based GNSS — is not economically scalable for autonomous driving, particularly in light of limited bandwidth availability over existing 4G/5G networks. This is where the proposed European Low Earth Orbit Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (LEO-PNT) constellation comes in. By adding a new GNSS layer, it could reduce the dependency on additional correction data.
The Need for Innovation in the Autonomous Driving Market
As road traffic becomes increasingly automated, highly integrated and reliable GNSS navigation — with quality of service monitoring across satellite, ground, and vehicle operation segments — is essential to bring these applications into regular operation. The recently published German government strategy for the future of autonomous driving (December 4, 2024) emphasizes, for the first time, the central importance of satellite navigation for autonomous mobility. This strategic recognition highlights the need for a next-generation, safety-critical navigation service from space.
While current MEO-based GNSS systems (even with augmentations) are sufficient for many applications, they fall short in safety-critical use cases such as autonomous driving.
In view of the current crisis at the Eastern European boarder and the unforseeable politics overseas, the International Telecommunication Union ITU, the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO and the International Maritim Organization IMO issued a joint statement in March 2025, where they urge the member states to reinforce resilience of the regional navigation satellite systems and protect them from harmful transmissions.
To enable secure operation, two key improvements are needed:
1. A Complementary LEO-PNT Layer Designed for Autonomous Driving:
- LEO-PNT offers better accuracy, greater availability, and higher resilience against disruptions like jamming and spoofing compared to traditional MEO GNSS. The system should be designed in a way that parts of the constellation can operate independently of MEO systems, ensuring greater redundancy and robustness.
- For safety-critical applications such as autonomous driving, LEO-PNT must include an integrated safety management system, along with independent quality-of-service monitoring across both the space and ground segments. This monitoring must be developed separately from the system components themselves to ensure the required separation of functions.
2. Hyperlocal GNSS-PNT Quality-of-Service Monitoring in Operational Domains (ODs) of Autonomous Vehicles (e.g., highways):
- Roadside sensors (Road Side Units) can support continuous GNSS integrity monitoring and provide local alerts to warn autonomous vehicles of signal disruptions in real time. In the future, they could even suggest alternative trajectories to safely navigate through such interferences.
- Since continuous connectivity is essential for autonomous driving, it makes sense to extend this local GNSS quality monitoring to include network connectivity as well.
Strategic Importance for Germany and Europe
For Germany — as a leading automotive hub — and the European Union, safety-critical PNT services are essential to remain competitive in the global race with the US and China. The automotive ecosystem is undergoing major transformation, with rapid changes in technology, markets, and regulations.
Secure, space-based PNT services could become a key driver of innovation for Europe’s automotive sector. Early investment in LEO-PNT — especially in its safety-critical components and with a view toward binding Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for OEMs — could strategically position Germany and the EU at the forefront of the next generation of satellite navigation.
Conclusion and Recommendations
With infrastructure investments on the horizon and the ESA Ministerial Council scheduled for November 2025, it is crucial for Germany and the EU to take a proactive stance. Significant funding should be allocated to the industrialisation of LEO-PNT, with a focus on developing trustworthy PNT services tailored to autonomous driving and adapting operational domain infrastructure accordingly.
Such strategic investment would lay the groundwork for integrating LEO-PNT into the European space programme beyond 2028 and support the goal of developing a commercial, European-made LEO-PNT system for autonomous mobility. By investing early in GNSS and LEO-PNT for autonomous driving, Europe can secure a technological edge and leadership position in the future of safety-critical satellite navigation.