The invention relates to a method for autonomous tracking of a following vehicle on the track of a leading vehicle in which the leading vehicle is controlled be an operator and a lead message is sent from the leading vehicle by means of vehicle-to-X communication, which signals the readiness for autonomous tracking of following vehicles and comprises at least one element of vehicle identification information and route information of the leading vehicle. The lead message is received by the following vehicle by means of vehicle-to-X communication and rejected by the following vehicle or confirmed with a follow message which comprises at least one element of vehicle identification information of the following vehicle. After receipt of the follow message, a first element of coordination information for coordination of the autonomous tracking is sent to the following vehicle by the leading vehicle by means of vehicle-to-X communication until an end of the autonomous tracking. The method is characterised in that a second element of coordination information is detected for coordination of the autonomous tracking by means of environment sensors of the following vehicle on the basis of movements of the leading vehicle, wherein the first and second elements of coordination information are compared by the following vehicle, wherein, in the case of a matching comparison result, the autonomous tracking is performed corresponding to the first and second elements of coordination information and wherein, in the case of a deviating comparison result, the autonomous tracking is ended. The invention further relates to a corresponding system.