A Global Outlook for Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous Vehicles (AV) which was a realm of science fiction, now becomes a reality. Huge acceleration in investment in AV technology has been made during the past few years. Countries and states around the world are passing laws to make access of AVs’ to public roads. Trials are going on several countries of Europe, America and Asia.
The 2019 KPMG Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index (AVRI) identified 25 countries globally as more advance in AV readiness and evaluate their ranks for the 2nd time.
The AVRI evaluates each country according to four pillars (i) policy & legislation; (ii) technology & innovation, (iii) infrastructure and (iv) consumer acceptance.
The Netherlands and Singapore positioned as first and second place scoring 25.05 and 24.32 respectively. Other countries with high scores include Norway, United States, Sweden, Finland, United Kingdom, Germany and United Arab Emirates.
How far is the UAE ready for Self-Driving Vehicles?
Dubai, the UAE’s largest city, aims to make 25 percent of all transportation autonomous by 2030, based on a strategy launched in 2016 that focuses on environmental and efficiency improvements
In October 2018, the UAE announced the launch of a government-endorsed blockchain platform, using technology from IBM, as part of a move towards making its government paperless by 2021.
Dubai Strategy is to make 25 percent of all transportation services self-driven by year 2030.
As assessed by the World Economic Forum the UAE, Singapore and the Netherlands have the best roads on this measure while Brazil, Russia, and Hungary have the worst. Regarding government readiness for change (that assesses regulation, government strategic planning and the rule of law) UAE received the highest score along with Singapore and Sweden while Brazil, Mexico, and Russia received the lowest. Public acceptance is high for AVs in the UAE like India Mexico but the UK, the US, and Canada are low.
“ The United Arab Emirates ranks at number nine glabally in the 2019 KPMG Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index (AVRI), scoring high in Road infrastructure quality, consumer opinion about AVs and AV department within government i.e policy and legislation”
KPMG’s study places the UAE at nine numbers, receives score 20.69, ahead of Japan, New Zealand, Canada, South Korea, France, and even China. According to the report, the UAE scores high in Road infrastructure quality (Infrastructure), Consumer opinion about AVs (Consumer acceptance) and AV department within government (policy and legislation).
However, it does less well on the data-sharing environment, lacks AV technology company headquarters and AV-related patents, this explains its lower rating on technology and innovation. But the continuous efforts for boosting this position are ongoing.
