Imagine a not-too-distant future. You sit in your electric car (a real luxury since you’re so successful in the future) and look back at the list below to compare the current world with the predictions. You use your glasses to answer emails while sipping your keto coffee and taking a bite of your zero-carb croissant. In this future, the car does all the driving so you can focus on your breakfast and the latest Electrek news. You’re… thriving. This self-driving car future might not be that far away (let’s be honest, it’s likely to arrive before your zero-carb croissant), but which countries are most likely moving to support self-driving cars? A survey by confused.com provides the comprehensive list below.
Fully self-driving cars will come someday
As EV adoption continues to grow (the natural next phase of vehicle transportation), the associated technology will also expand, enabling faster speeds, longer ranges, and increasingly advanced autonomy. Some of today’s vehicles can even parallel park automatically, or be summoned to their owners when no one is inside.
As both conventional and electric car makers unveil new vehicles, more are being offered with highway assist features rather than self-driving capabilities, but drivers must keep their hands on the wheel for safety. Tesla and other automakers have been working on fully self-driving technology for years, but hurdles such as camera footage and regulations have kept them from making progress.
Companies around the world are adopting LiDAR technology to support self-driving vehicles, everything from driverless delivery vehicles to large semi-trucks. Still, Level 4 autonomy is not yet a true reality for drivers, especially consumers.
But as a planet we are getting closer and closer to realizing this future, and some countries are doing more and, as a result, being better prepared if and when self-driving cars become the new normal.
Which countries are best equipped for self-driving cars?
To determine which countries are best suited to accommodate an influx of autonomous vehicles, Confused.com researched and assessed global markets, scoring each country using several relevant factors.
This includes considerations such as legislation, technology, consumer interest, infrastructure, etc. By giving each country a score in each category, the study was able to combine them to come up with an average “AV Readiness Score.”
methodology
The survey included OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries that were scored based on the average of the above factors. The data breaks down as follows:
Policy & Legislation: We score AV regulation on a simple scale: 4 = laws/approvals in place to operate AVs 3 = laws/approvals in place to operate AVs but with significant reservations 2 = laws/approvals in place to test AVs 1 = laws in development, 0 = nothing in place/in development) A full list of sources can be found here: Technology & Innovation Company Headquarters – number of autonomous vehicle startups headquartered in the country according to Crunchbase AV Patents – number of AV patent applications according to Espacenet Consumer Acceptance: Google Search Data Global searches for “autonomous cars in 2021” compared to the same searches in 2020 using Google Ads Keyword Planner Infrastructure EV Charger Availability – number of public EV chargers in each country. Individual sources can be found here: Calculated per million people using population data from the World Bank. Road Quality – According to TheGlobalEconomy.com, the quality of roads in a particular country is measured on a scale of 1 to 7. Source: Confused.com
Top 5 countries in support of autonomous vehicles
As you can see from the chart above, the top 5 countries driving autonomous vehicles are global superpowers and leading auto manufacturing companies. However, there is only one leader: the United States, which is number 1 when it comes to autonomous vehicles.
united states of america
According to Confused.com’s scoring system, the United States took the AV crown with a score of 8.62/10, beating second-place Japan by 1.03 points, the largest margin of victory among the top 5. There were several key factors that helped the United States take the top spot.
First, 50 AV companies are headquartered in the U.S. The next closest country in the top 30 is Israel, with 11 autonomous vehicle startups. It’s no surprise that these 50 companies would choose the U.S., as each has invested more than $50 million.
And that money is being put to good use: The US alone has over 127,000 self-driving car patents, five times more than the next most, South Korea (25,861). It’s no surprise, then, that American drivers are the ones most eager to not have to drive their cars…Californians can’t wait.
Japan
Japan came in second place, but while not the top in most categories, it consistently scores highly across the board. One factor that contributed to Japan receiving the silver award is its laws. Japan is one of the few countries that legally allows autonomous vehicles to operate on the roads beyond their test driving capabilities. As a result, Japan received a score of 4/4. Here’s hoping that Japanese automakers will promote EVs as enthusiastically as their home country supports AVs.
France
While France didn’t receive the highest marks on the AV Report Card, it still scored high enough in each category to receive a global bronze medal. Per million population, France has nearly twice as many public EV chargers as the United States, and it also received decent marks for road quality and customer acceptance.
United Kingdom (UK)
The UK ranks 4th based on corporate headquarters (5) and laws. Speaking of laws, the UK technically allows self-driving cars, but in practice other restrictions prevent them from operating.
UK businesses are investing in a self-driving car future, but the public isn’t as keen, with consumer interest falling 11% in 2021 compared to the previous year.
Germany
Germany made it into the top five thanks to its top-notch legislation supporting autonomous vehicles and an impressive number of patents, despite only having one company headquartered in the country.
Full List: Top 30 Countries for Self-Driving Cars
Don’t worry if your country didn’t make it onto the podium: the top five is actually pulled from Confused.com’s full data table, which compiles the top 30 countries most ready for autonomous vehicles. Check to see if your country ranks below.
Source: Confused.com
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