A method for estimating a future speed of a vehicle and/or distance of a vehicle from a reference point, comprising the steps of: detecting the speed of the vehicle at a first distance of the vehicle along a path from a reference point; wherein the vehicle is located at the first distance from the reference point at a first time; detecting the distance and the course of the distance of the vehicle from a preceding vehicle driving in front of the vehicle between the first time and a second time; wherein, during the detection, the preceding vehicle is located on a path on which the vehicle will also be located under the assumption of a first driving manoeuvre from the first time to the second time; creating at least one first estimation of the speed of the vehicle for the second time and/or of the distance of the vehicle from the reference point for the second time; wherein the first estimation is based in each case on the speed of the vehicle at the first distance, the first distance from the reference point, and the second time; wherein the first estimation of the speed and/or the distance is also based on a first course of a desired speed of the vehicle determined in advance for the assumption of the first driving manoeuvre depending on the distance of the vehicle from the reference point; characterised by the step of: detecting the lateral deviation and the course of the lateral deviation of the preceding vehicle between the first time and the second time; wherein the lateral deviation is the perpendicular distance of the vehicle centre axis, more especially of the centre or the rear end of the vehicle centre axis, from the path; wherein the first estimation also takes into consideration the course of the distance from the preceding vehicle and a filtering, more especially low-pass filtering, smoothing or segmented smoothing and prediction, of the course of the detected distance depending on the course of the lateral deviation. detecting the speed of the vehicle at a first distance of the vehicle along a path from a reference point; wherein the vehicle is located at the first distance from the reference point at a first time; detecting the distance and the course of the distance of the vehicle from a preceding vehicle driving in front of the vehicle between the first time and a second time; wherein, during the detection, the preceding vehicle is located on a path on which the vehicle will also be located under the assumption of a first driving manoeuvre from the first time to the second time; creating at least one first estimation of the speed of the vehicle for the second time and/or of the distance of the vehicle from the reference point for the second time; wherein the first estimation is based in each case on the speed of the vehicle at the first distance, the first distance from the reference point, and the second time; wherein the first estimation of the speed and/or the distance is also based on a first course of a desired speed of the vehicle determined in advance for the assumption of the first driving manoeuvre depending on the distance of the vehicle from the reference point; detecting the lateral deviation and the course of the lateral deviation of the preceding vehicle between the first time and the second time; wherein the lateral deviation is the perpendicular distance of the vehicle centre axis, more especially of the centre or the rear end of the vehicle centre axis, from the path; wherein the first estimation also takes into consideration the course of the distance from the preceding vehicle and a filtering, more especially low-pass filtering, smoothing or segmented smoothing and prediction, of the course of the detected distance depending on the course of the lateral deviation.