Abstract: An approach is described for operating a driver assistance system that is used to predict a movement of at least one living object in the surroundings (17) of the motor vehicle. The approach includes storing motion models characterizing movements for a combination of object classes; receiving measurement data relating to the surroundings; recognizing the living object and at least one other object in the surroundings and determining a position of the objects in relation to each other; identifying the object classes of the known objects; for the living object developing an equation of motion at least according to the respective position of the living object in relation to the other object as well as the motion model stored for the combination of the identified object classes; and predicting the movement on the basis of the equation of motion; and operating the driver assistance system taking into account the predicted movement.