Category: transport

Why the Autonomous Car Manufacturers Are Getting Europe Wrong

Autonomous car manufacturers like Zoox or Waymo have, for the most part, been perfecting their technology in environments like San Francisco, Phoenix and Seattle – cities known for broad avenues, sprawling suburbs, and a distinct lack of comprehensive public transport. From a purely technological standpoint, it’s understandable: America offers controlled-access highways, relatively predictable road layouts, and plenty of space for trial and error. Yet this approach overlooks the fact that Europe’s transport ecosystems are quite different, and it’s a difference that could undermine the success of self-driving cars if ignored.

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Counterurbanisation

It’s hard to believe that just five years ago, many of us were living through a worldwide lockdown, trying to make sense of new ways of working and living. Back then, I believed the pandemic would dramatically and permanently accelerate the move away from big cities in favor of smaller towns and the countryside – something often referred to as counterurbanisation. In hindsight, my predictions weren’t entirely off the mark, but I was definitely too optimistic about how quickly these changes would reshape our world.
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Fleets Over Ownership: The Case for Autonomous Vehicles

When I first wrote about this topic in 2016, it felt like a provocative prediction: self-driving cars would never be something the average person owns. Nearly a decade later, much of what I foresaw has come to pass, and the trajectory of autonomous vehicles (AVs) confirms that private ownership of these technological marvels will remain a niche luxury. Let’s revisit and update the reasoning behind this.
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