The attack happened at about 22:00 local time (20:00 GMT), with a report made to police in Berlin that a white vehicle struck crowds at a Pride event in the capital.
Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered at Tiergarten park, near the iconic Brandenburg Gate, for the annual event, which is known as Christopher Street Day.
Some people were also stabbed in the incident.
Shortly afterwards, the Pride event was cancelled.
A performance was abruptly brought to a end, with organisers taking to the stage and advising the crowd that the event was over and to start walking towards the exits.
As the message was being given to the crowd, the word ‘Evacuation’ projected onto a large screen on the stage.
Unverified video posted to social media showed large crowds of people leaving the scene as emergency vehicles raced to the scene.
At about 01:00 local time, police confirmed that one woman had been killed and 16 others had suffered injuries.
A short time later police confirmed they had located the vehicle believed to have been used in the attack, with it having crashed into a tree.
