A change in a global treaty backed by European countries could see self-driven cars on the roads sooner than expected. A little-noticed amendment to the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic agreed last month would let drivers take their hands off the wheel of self-driving cars. It was pushed by Germany, Italy and France, whose high-end carmakers believe they are ready to zoom past American tech pioneers and bring the first “autonomous vehicles” to market.

“Today I am only allowed to take my hands off the wheel to a limited extent. Thankfully the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic has been changed,” said Thomas Weber, Mercedes-Benz’s head of research and development. For years, so-called “autonomous vehicles” have been a futuristic dream pioneered by silicon valley companies such as Google.

But as the technology becomes more affordable, Europe’s luxury automakers say they are well placed to take advantage of it because of their deeper experience in engineering, manufacturing, marketing and sales. There is no point in waiting while California upstarts catch up. The US state of Nevada passed a law in June 2011 to allow test drives of autonomous vehicles there. Google tested one in 2012.

In August 2013, Mercedes-Benz responded to the Google push by developing an S-class limousine which drove between Mannheim and Pforzheim in Germany without any driver input. The 103km stretch is known as the Bertha Benz route, named after the driver of the first ever motorcar more than 125 years ago.