Is Europe ready for self-driving cars?

In a recent interview with TNW, Jelle Prins, the mind behind Uber’s first app, shared his vision of a world transformed by autonomous vehicles. “Imagine getting into a car here in Amsterdam in the evening,” he mused, “and waking up the next morning in a mountain village in France for a day of snowboarding.” In his mind, self-driving is the next step in the evolution of mobility, and the question is not if but when it will land in Europe.

He shared his vision for this future — and his plans to design proteins using AI — with TNW founder Boris Veldhuijzen van Zaten in the latest episode of “Kia’s Next Big Drive.”

Watch the full interview by clicking below:

The Kia EV9 featured in the interview is a Level 2 autonomous vehicle, based on a 0-5 scale of driving automation. It uses Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), an advanced technology that enables the car to drive more autonomously by matching the speed of the car in front, but a human driver is still needed. This is all part of automakers’ gradual release of new adaptive technologies that are bringing us closer and closer to Level 5 autonomous vehicles, which don’t require a driver at all.

While AVs are being introduced at a gradual pace commercially, we can expect AVs to be adopted in public transport at a much more rapid pace. As part of Horizon 2020, the European Commission is currently funding research projects into driverless public transport across the EU. But the US, China, and more recently the UK, are already far ahead — and gaining speed.

In the US, companies like Waymo (Alphabet’s AV subsidiary) have already deployed commercial robotaxi services across Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. Next year, they plan to expand into Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, DC in 2026. In China, Baidu has tested its Apollo Go autonomous ride-hailing service in over 15 cities, and is aiming for 100 cities by 2030.

Even the UK, often slower to adopt emerging mobility tech, passed a landmark Automated Vehicles (AV) Act in 2024, creating a unified legal framework. Pilot AV programmes are slated for 2026, with Wayve and Uber already planning trials.

In contrast, the EU remains fragmented. With inconsistent infrastructure, patchy 5G coverage, and no shared regulatory roadmap, the bloc risks falling behind — unless it can harmonise standards and accelerate investment.

How AVs could reshape our cities

Imagine the canals of Amsterdam stripped of parking spots and lined instead with trees, community gardens, and outdoor cafes. What if Barcelona’s “superblocks,” urban planning aimed at bringing traffic-restricted, pedestrian-friendly zones to city dwellers, could be brought to cities like Paris and Berlin?

AVs could supercharge these trends, making cities more livable and accessible for everyone.

Living further outside the city could be less of a problem if your commute becomes part of your morning ritual. Passengers could enjoy a cup of coffee, read, or fire up their laptop without having to concentrate on the road.

AVs could communicate and coordinate their movements with smart city infrastructure, allowing for real-time traffic management. This could lead to optimised routing, reduced congestion, and smoother traffic flow. For example, some cities are experimenting with dynamic traffic lights that adapt in real time to traffic conditions using sensors, cameras, and algorithms.

Is Europe ready for an AV future?

Rolling back the rose-tinted sun roof

Not all the potential consequences of AVs are positive. As with the rise of Uber, a wave of automation could disrupt millions of jobs in the transportation sector, from truck drivers to delivery workers and taxi operators.

According to calculations by KPMG, AVs could lower the cost of public transportation by up to 50%. Considering 600,000 people work in the transport and logistics sector in the Netherlands, the total loss of income could amount to €14bn a year if these jobs are lost. Reskilling programs need to be introduced for these workers.

AVs also raise troubling ethical questions. For example, how should a car choose between two harmful outcomes in an unavoidable crash scenario? To prepare for this future, scholars are debating the best way to align such intelligent systems with human moral judgment.

There’s also the issue of cybersecurity. As vehicles become more connected, they also become vulnerable to hacking, posing risks not only to passengers but to entire transportation systems. Last year, researchers developed a hack, dubbed MadRadar, able to bypass anti-spoofing protections and make AVs hallucinate phantom cars on the road.

Infrastructure needs

The future of autonomy hinges on more than software and sensors — it needs roads to match the tech. One glaring challenge is the lack of consistent signage and road standards across Europe. A 2023 literature review highlights how variations in signage design, language, and placement across EU countries present significant hurdles for AVs, which rely on image recognition and machine learning to interpret their surroundings.

Then there’s the question of digital infrastructure. Reliable 5G networks, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, and up-to-date digital maps are essential for real-time decision-making and safety. Cities that lack these assets risk being left behind.

The regulatory maze

Finally, there’s the matter of legislation. As of mid-2025, each EU member state has wildly varying rules on AV testing and deployment.

Liability also remains a murky issue: if a self-driving car crashes, who’s at fault — the manufacturer, the software developer, or the passenger?

These inconsistencies could slow down adoption in Europe, even as tech giants in the US and China race ahead. Until governments create unified frameworks that ensure safety without stifling innovation, mass deployment will remain on the distant horizon.

Mentality shifts

Whether or not AVs are actually safer than human drivers is still unclear. A study by Swiss Re that came out this year claimed Waymo’s autonomous vehicles have up to 92% fewer liability claims than human-driven cars. However, other studies have highlighted that AVs still face challenges in complex scenarios like dawn/dusk driving and turning at intersections, where they have higher accident rates compared to human drivers.

Interestingly, a study into the psychological biases drivers have about AVs revealed that:

• People hold AVs to higher safety standards than human drivers.
• Many overestimate their own driving abilities.
• The safer people think they are, the more they expect from an AV.

The researchers argued that focusing on safety as the key benefit of AVs may be the wrong approach.

So… just how soon will we see AVs on European streets?

On “Kia’s Next Big Drive,” Prins predicted that self-driving vehicles will be on European roads “soon.” But the reality is more nuanced. Technologically, AVs are getting close. Societally and politically, we’re still playing catch-up.

The question is no longer if autonomous vehicles will arrive — but how we’ll adapt when they do. Will we embrace the potential for greener, safer, and more accessible cities? Or will we replicate the mistakes of the past, replacing one set of problems with another?

One thing is certain: the self-driving future isn’t just about cars. It’s about reimagining the way we live, move, and connect with the world around us. And that future is approaching fast.