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Netherlands ranks 1st in autonomous vehicle readiness, US places 3rd
The recently-released Automated Vehicles Readiness Index (AVRI) report by auditing firm KPMG has revealed that the Netherlands is the world’s most autonomous vehicle-ready country. The AVRI, which ranks nations across the globe according to their readiness for self-driving technologies, has also placed the United States in third place, right behind Singapore.
KPMG International evaluated countries according to four particular pillars. To make it to the index’s rankings, nations must perform well on policy and legislation, technology and innovation, infrastructure, and finally, consumer acceptance. The countries’ scores for each pillar are then aggregated and ranked.
Topping the list was the Netherlands, which was the clear world leader in the AVRI. The European nation ranked 1st in infrastructure, 2nd in consumer acceptance, 3rd in policy and legislation, and 4th in technology and innovation. The country’s aggregated score was 27.73 points, placing it well ahead of other nations in the index.
According to an EE Times report, the Netherlands’ impressive performance was attributed largely to its AV-friendly infrastructure. As of writing, the Netherlands boasts the highest density of electric vehicle charging points in the world. By 2016, the European nation already offered 26,789 charging points for the public. The country is also known for its well-maintained road network, which is currently rated as one of the world’s best.
In a statement to Geospatial World News, KPMG Netherlands Digital Advisory Manager Stijn de Groen noted that the country, even at this point, is already prepared for the upcoming autonomous vehicle revolution.
“The Dutch ecosystem for AVs is ready. The intensively-used Dutch roads are very well developed and maintained, and other indicators like telecoms infrastructure are also very strong. In addition, the Dutch government Ministry of Infrastructure has opened the public roads to large-scale tests with self-driving passenger cars and lorries,” the KPMG executive said, according to a GWN report.
AVRI’s second-placer on its rankings is Singapore, topping the list both in policy and legislation as well as consumer acceptance. According to KPMG, the Asian city-state received high marks in these pillars due to its recent amendment to its Road and Traffic Act, which allowed autonomous vehicles to be tested on public roads. Singaporeans were also found to be readily accepting of self-driving cars as a means of transportation.
Singapore also ranked 8th in technology and innovation and 2nd in infrastructure. The Asian city-state earned an aggregated score of 26.08 points.
The United States ranks third in the AVRI, despite ranking first in technology and innovation. Among all the countries in the index, the US earned near-maximum ratings on industry partnerships and research and development hubs, among other factors. The country’s overall score, however, was hampered by its low ratings on patents and overall usage of electric cars. The limited adoption and actual capabilities of fully autonomous vehicles also contributed to the country’s score.
Overall, the US ranked 7th in infrastructure, 10th in policy and legislation and 4th in consumer acceptance. The United States’ aggregated score in the AVRI is 24.75 points.
In a statement to GWN, KPMG US Infrastructure Advisory Principal Timothy D. Wilschetz noted that the country, while highly innovative in the autonomous vehicle sphere, still suffers from several setbacks. Wilschetz believes, however, that US regulators have the power to change this trend.
“The US has a highly innovative but largely disparate environment with little predictability regarding the uniform adoption of national standards for AVs. Therefore, the prospect of widespread driverless vehicles is unlikely in the near future. However, federal policy and regulatory guidance could certainly accelerate early adoption, particularly concerning limited freight applications such as truck platooning.”
Top 10 countries most prepared for the future of autonomous transportation by KPMG
- Netherlands
- Singapore
- United States
- Sweden
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- Canada
- United Arab Emirates
- New Zealand
- South Korea
News
Tesla FSD (Supervised) is about to go on “widespread” release
In a comment last October, Elon Musk stated that FSD V14.2 is “for widespread use.”
Tesla has begun rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) V14.2, and with this, the wide release of the system could very well begin.
The update introduces a new high-resolution vision encoder, expanded emergency-vehicle handling, smarter routing, new parking options, and more refined driving behavior, among other improvements.
FSD V14.2 improvements
FSD (Supervised) V14.2’s release notes highlight a fully upgraded neural-network vision encoder capable of reading higher-resolution features, giving the system improved awareness of emergency vehicles, road obstacles, and even human gestures. Tesla also expanded its emergency-vehicle protocols, adding controlled pull-overs and yielding behavior for police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances, among others.
A deeper integration of navigation and routing into the vision network now allows the system to respond to blocked roads or detours in real time. The update also enhances decision-making in several complex scenarios, including unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and interactions with school buses. All in all, these improvements should help FSD (Supervised) V14.2 perform in a very smooth and comfortable manner.
Elon Musk’s predicted wide release
The significance of V14.2 grows when paired with Elon Musk’s comments from October. While responding to FSD tester AI DRIVR, who praised V14.1.2 for fixing “95% of indecisive lane changes and braking” and who noted that it was time for FSD to go on wide release, Musk stated that “14.2 for widespread use.”
FSD V14 has so far received a substantial amount of positive reviews from Tesla owners, many of whom have stated that the system now drives better than some human drivers as it is confident, cautious, and considerate at the same time. With V14.2 now rolling out, it remains to be seen if the update also makes it to the company’s wide FSD fleet, which is still populated by a large number of HW3 vehicles.
News
Tesla FSD V14.2 starts rolling out to initial batch of vehicles
It would likely only be a matter of time before FSD V14.2 videos are posted and shared on social media.
Tesla has begun pushing Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2 to its initial batch of vehicles. The update was initially observed by Tesla owners and veteran FSD users on social media platform X on Friday.
So far, reports of the update have been shared by Model Y owners in California whose vehicles are equipped with the company’s AI4 hardware, though it would not be surprising if more Tesla owners across the country receive the update as well.
Based on the release notes of the update, key improvements in FSD V14.2 include a revamped neural network for better detection of emergency vehicles, obstacles, and human gestures, as well as options to select arrival spots.
It would likely only be a matter of time before FSD V14.2 videos are posted and shared on social media.
Following are the release notes of FSD (Supervised) V14.2, as shared on X by longtime FSD tester Whole Mars Catalog.


Release Notes
2025.38.9.5
Currently Installed
FSD (Supervised) v14.2
Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2 includes:
- Upgraded the neural network vision encoder, leveraging higher resolution features to further improve scenarios like handling emergency vehicles, obstacles on the road, and human gestures.
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.
- Added handling to pull over or yield for emergency vehicles (e.g. police cars, fire trucks, ambulances.
- Added navigation and routing into the vision-based neural network for real-time handling of blocked roads and detours.
- Added additional Speed Profile to further customize driving style preference.
- Improved handling for static and dynamic gates.
- Improved offsetting for road debris (e.g. tires, tree branches, boxes).
- Improve handling of several scenarios including: unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and school busses.
- Improved FSD’s ability to manage system faults and improve scenarios like handling emergency vehicles, obstacles on the road, and human gestures.
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.
- Added handling to pull over or yield for emergency vehicles (e.g. police cars, fire trucks, ambulances).
- Added navigation and routing into the vision-based neural network for real-time handling of blocked roads and detours.
- Added additional Speed Profile to further customize driving style preference.
- Improved handling for static and dynamic gates.
- Improved offsetting for road debris (e.g. tires, tree branches, boxes).
- Improve handling of several scenarios, including unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and school buses.
- Improved FSD’s ability to manage system faults and recover smoothly from degraded operation for enhanced reliability.
- Added alerting for residue build-up on interior windshield that may impact front camera visibility. If affected, visit Service for cleaning!
Upcoming Improvements:
- Overall smoothness and sentience
- Parking spot selection and parking quality
News
Tesla Model X lost 400 pounds thanks to these changes
The Tesla Model X has always been one of the company’s most loved vehicles, despite its low sales figures, which can be attributed to its high price tag.
However, the Model X has been a signature item on Tesla’s menu of cars, most notably recognized by its Falcon Wing Doors, which are aware of its surroundings and open according to what’s around it.
But recent improvements to the Model X were looking slim to none, but it appears most of the fixes actually happened under the body, at least according to Tesla’s Vice President of Powertrain, Lars Moravy.
In a recent interview with Car and Driver, Moravy detailed all of the changes to the 2026 iteration of the vehicle, which was about 400 pounds lighter than it was originally. The biggest change is a modification with the rear motor, switching from an induction-type motor to a permanent-magnet design and optimizing the half-shafts, which shed about 100 pounds.
Tesla also got “almost 80 pounds out of the interior bits and pieces,” which “included making parts thinner, different manufacturing process choices, and incorporating airbag-deployment requirements into the headliner fabric,” the report said.
Additionally, the standard five-passenger, bench seat configuration saved 50 pounds by ditching pedestal mounting. This also helped with practicality, as it helped the seat fold flat. Engineers at Tesla also saved 44 pounds from the high-voltage wiring through optimizing the wiring from the charge-port DC/DC converter and switching from copper to aluminum wiring.
Tesla makes a decision on the future of its flagship Model S and Model X
Tesla also simplified the cooling system by reducing the number of radiators. It also incorporated Nürburgring cooling requirements for the Plaid variant, which saved nearly 30 pounds.
Many Tesla fans will be familiar with the megacastings, manufactured in-house by presses from IDRA, which also saves more than 20 pounds and boosts torsional stiffness by around 10 percent. Tweaks to the suspension also saved 10 pounds.
People were truly disappointed with what Tesla did with the Model S and Model X, arguing that the cars needed a more severe exterior overhaul, which might be true. However, Tesla really did a lot to reduce the weight of the vehicle, which helps increase range and efficiency. According to Grok, every 200 pounds removed adds between 7 and 15 percent to range estimations.
This makes sense considering the range estimations both increased by 7 percent from the Model X’s 2025 configuration to the 2026 builds. Range increased on the All-Wheel-Drive trim from 329 miles to 352 miles, while the Plaid went from 314 miles to 335 miles.