Method and apparatus for autonomously plugging a charging plug into a charging socket of a vehicle

Technologies and techniques for autonomously plugging a charging plug into a charging socket of a vehicle, wherein the charging plug is installed on a programmable robot arm of a charging station. A camera is used to locate the charging socket using image analysis of acquired images of the charging socket and the surroundings of the charging station are represented as a digital map including a charging socket region in which the charging socket is located. The charging plug is moved into a plug-in position at a distance from the charging socket and the digital map is processed into a modified digital map having a remote charging socket region. A plugging-in operation is then performed based on the modified digital map.