Method for automatically guiding a vehicle along predefined paths , wherein signal measurement points of an underlying surface over which the vehicle is moving and/or will move are detected, wherein within a template (15, 15 a-e) covering a plurality of signal measurement points of the sensor signal, a plurality of sub-templates are provided, wherein a sub-template measurement value or vector is formed for each sub-template from the values and/or the vectors of the signal measurement points which are at least partly covered by the respective sub-template or are located in the environment thereof, wherein preprocessing is carried out for the sub-templates , wherein a feature is formed from the preprocessed sub-template measurement values/vectors, wherein a signature (A*-O*, A-0, S) associated with the feature is formed by weighted combinations of the sub-template values/vectors and at least one threshold value decision, wherein a check is made to ascertain whether the at least one operating signature (A*-O*) matches at least one reference signature (A-0, S) of the predefined paths , wherein the at least one reference signature (A-0, S) is assigned a position on the predefined paths , and, if the at least one operating signature (A*-O*) and the at least one reference signature (A-0, S) match, the position of the vehicle on the predefined paths is deduced, a group of operating signatures (A*-O*) is checked with a group of reference signatures (A-O, S) in respect of matching and the position of the vehicle on the predefined paths is deduced if the number of matches between the operating signatures (A*-O*) and the reference signatures (A-O, S) is the highest. wherein signal measurement points of an underlying surface over which the vehicle is moving and/or will move are detected, wherein within a template (15, 15 a-e) covering a plurality of signal measurement points of the sensor signal, a plurality of sub-templates are provided, wherein a sub-template measurement value or vector is formed for each sub-template from the values and/or the vectors of the signal measurement points which are at least partly covered by the respective sub-template or are located in the environment thereof, wherein preprocessing is carried out for the sub-templates , wherein a feature is formed from the preprocessed sub-template measurement values/vectors, wherein a signature (A*-O*, A-0, S) associated with the feature is formed by weighted combinations of the sub-template values/vectors and at least one threshold value decision, wherein a check is made to ascertain whether the at least one operating signature (A*-O*) matches at least one reference signature (A-0, S) of the predefined paths , wherein the at least one reference signature (A-0, S) is assigned a position on the predefined paths , and, if the at least one operating signature (A*-O*) and the at least one reference signature (A-0, S) match, the position of the vehicle on the predefined paths is deduced, a group of operating signatures (A*-O*) is checked with a group of reference signatures (A-O, S) in respect of matching and the position of the vehicle on the predefined paths is deduced if the number of matches between the operating signatures (A*-O*) and the reference signatures (A-O, S) is the highest. <EOS>