The latest KMPG study assessing how prepared 30 leading countries are in the development of autonomous vehicles has seen the United Kingdom fall two places to ninth.
The third KMPG Readiness Index compares jurisdictions across a range of attributes such as safety, privacy, digital infrastructure, impact on transport systems and cross-border travel.
The UK retains its second place on the Policy and Legislation pillar, with the
report praising the government for continuing to make substantial progress in this area over the past year. Furthermore, it says, in support of its Future of Transport Regulatory Review, UK Government has recently launched a wide-ranging consultation considering (amongst other areas) flexible bus services, micromobility vehicles such as electric scooters and mobility as a service.
However the country rates only ninth for technology and innovation, 16th for infrastructure and 12th for consumer acceptance.
KPMG’s Director for Future Mobility in the UK, Ben Foulser, notes that “the UK is undertaking a pervasive and comprehensive review, not just of discrete pieces of the picture but the breadth of the mobility ecosystem.”
Colleague Sarah Owen Vandersluis, Head of Future Mobility, added that, “The UK has a really healthy ecosystem for early stage work, with a lot of tests and trials,” but that there are challenges in scaling up such work, as well as the quality of telecoms infrastructure and encouraging collaboration between organisations.
Singapore has leapfrogged the Netherlands to top of the table with Norway staying in third and the US fourth. Finland, Sweden, South Korea and the UAE – the two countries to overtake the UK – come in fifth to eighth, with Denmark in 10th.
