Test cases for autonomous vehicles are generated automatically by using data which have been collected from vehicles participating in public road traffic. A test planning system for autonomous vehicle includes defined application cases for autonomous vehicles. The vehicles are configured to identify test cases with prediction analyzes of a reference catalog of driving situations and the defined application cases, and compare, via a comparative analyzes, the test cases and the defined application cases to compile an expanded set of test cases, wherein the expanded set of test cases are compared to the defined application cases to output a complete set of test cases. The system also includes a central database configured to query the complete set of test cases.