The invention relates to a drive system and to a method for monitoring a hydrostatic drive (1). The hydrostatic drive (1) has at least one hydrostatic piston engine (2) on which a control unit (6, 6′), which controls the hydrostatic piston engine (2, 2′), is arranged, wherein the control unit (6, 6′) is connected to a central control device (13), which controls the drive system (1), via a first interface (14). Control signals for controlling the drive system (1) can be transmitted using the first interface (14). The central control device (13) is additionally connected to the control unit (6) via a second interface (26, 26′), and a switch-off signal can be transmitted from the control unit (6, 6′) to the central control device (13) and/or from the central control device (13) to the control unit (6, 6′) using the second interface (26, 26′).