Germany’s transport minister is proposing new legislation that would put a number of new requirements on automakers as they roll out autonomous vehicles, according to Reuters.

The proposal is from German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt and it would require that drivers remain seated in front of the steering wheel so they would be able to intervene in an emergency. They wouldn’t be expected to pay attention to traffic, but the fact that the legislation would require the existence of a steering wheel at all may draw criticism from companies working on autonomous vehicles.

Similar proposed rules in California were heavily criticized by a number of companies, including Google. Carmakers pleaded with US regulators earlier this year for limited regulation on autonomous cars to encourage rapid development of potentially lifesaving technologies.

Also included in the proposed German regulations is a requirement for automakers to include a black box in autonomous vehicles to help determine responsibility in the event of a crash. Given that many cars — we’ve seen this from Tesla in particular — already have these sorts of systems, this should be one of the less-controversial items from an automaker perspective, though privacy advocates may raise concerns.

The Verge has reached out to a number of automakers for comment on the proposed regulations.