Assistance system for a vehicle

An assistance system for a vehicle for providing an emergency stop assistance function, comprising:

• an execution device configured to execute the emergency stop assistance function using a plurality of activation stages;
• a detection device configured to automatically detect driver inactivity with respect to at least one vehicle component, and to activate the emergency stop assistance function using a first stage selection comprising an automatic activation of the plurality of activation stages;
• a triggering device for detecting activation of a manually activated operating element for an electric parking brake or a parking lock in a transmission in the vehicle to activate the emergency stop assistance function using a second stage selection, based on the activation of the manually activated operating element, after the first stage selection of the plurality of activation stages, wherein the second stage selection is configured to be executed after a predefined time period of detected driver inactivity has elapsed.