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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
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) closed at an all-time high on Tuesday, jumping over 3 percent during the day and finishing at $489.88.
The price beats the previous record close, which was $479.86.
Shares have had a crazy year, dipping more than 40 percent from the start of the year. The stock then started to recover once again around late April, when its price started to climb back up from the low $200 level.
This week, Tesla started to climb toward its highest levels ever, as it was revealed on Sunday that the company was testing driverless Robotaxis in Austin. The spike in value pushed the company’s valuation to $1.63 trillion.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
It is the seventh-most valuable company on the market currently, trailing Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.
Shares closed up $14.57 today, up over 3 percent.
The stock has gone through a lot this year, as previously mentioned. Shares tumbled in Q1 due to CEO Elon Musk’s involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which pulled his attention away from his companies and left a major overhang on their valuations.
However, things started to rebound halfway through the year, and as the government started to phase out the $7,500 tax credit, demand spiked as consumers tried to take advantage of it.
Q3 deliveries were the highest in company history, and Tesla responded to the loss of the tax credit with the launch of the Model 3 and Model Y Standard.
Additionally, analysts have announced high expectations this week for the company on Wall Street as Robotaxi continues to be the focus. With autonomy within Tesla’s sights, things are moving in the direction of Robotaxi being a major catalyst for growth on the Street in the coming year.
Elon Musk
Tesla needs to come through on this one Robotaxi metric, analyst says
“We think the key focus from here will be how fast Tesla can scale driverless operations (including if Tesla’s approach to software/hardware allows it to scale significantly faster than competitors, as the company has argued), and on profitability.”
Tesla needs to come through on this one Robotaxi metric, Mark Delaney of Goldman Sachs says.
Tesla is in the process of rolling out its Robotaxi platform to areas outside of Austin and the California Bay Area. It has plans to launch in five additional cities, including Houston, Dallas, Miami, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.
However, the company’s expansion is not what the focus needs to be, according to Delaney. It’s the speed of deployment.
The analyst said:
“We think the key focus from here will be how fast Tesla can scale driverless operations (including if Tesla’s approach to software/hardware allows it to scale significantly faster than competitors, as the company has argued), and on profitability.”
Profitability will come as the Robotaxi fleet expands. Making that money will be dependent on when Tesla can initiate rides in more areas, giving more customers access to the program.
There are some additional things that the company needs to make happen ahead of the major Robotaxi expansion, one of those things is launching driverless rides in Austin, the first city in which it launched the program.
This week, Tesla started testing driverless Robotaxi rides in Austin, as two different Model Y units were spotted with no occupants, a huge step in the company’s plans for the ride-sharing platform.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
CEO Elon Musk has been hoping to remove Safety Monitors from Robotaxis in Austin for several months, first mentioning the plan to have them out by the end of 2025 in September. He confirmed on Sunday that Tesla had officially removed vehicle occupants and started testing truly unsupervised rides.
Although Safety Monitors in Austin have been sitting in the passenger’s seat, they have still had the ability to override things in case of an emergency. After all, the ultimate goal was safety and avoiding any accidents or injuries.
Goldman Sachs reiterated its ‘Neutral’ rating and its $400 price target. Delaney said, “Tesla is making progress with its autonomous technology,” and recent developments make it evident that this is true.
Investor's Corner
Tesla gets bold Robotaxi prediction from Wall Street firm
Last week, Andrew Percoco took over Tesla analysis for Morgan Stanley from Adam Jonas, who covered the stock for years. Percoco seems to be less optimistic and bullish on Tesla shares, while still being fair and balanced in his analysis.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) received a bold Robotaxi prediction from Morgan Stanley, which anticipates a dramatic increase in the size of the company’s autonomous ride-hailing suite in the coming years.
Last week, Andrew Percoco took over Tesla analysis for Morgan Stanley from Adam Jonas, who covered the stock for years. Percoco seems to be less optimistic and bullish on Tesla shares, while still being fair and balanced in his analysis.
Percoco dug into the Robotaxi fleet and its expansion in the coming years in his latest note, released on Tuesday. The firm expects Tesla to increase the Robotaxi fleet size to 1,000 vehicles in 2026. However, that’s small-scale compared to what they expect from Tesla in a decade.
Tesla expands Robotaxi app access once again, this time on a global scale
By 2035, Morgan Stanley believes there will be one million Robotaxis on the road across multiple cities, a major jump and a considerable fleet size. We assume this means the fleet of vehicles Tesla will operate internally, and not including passenger-owned vehicles that could be added through software updates.
He also listed three specific catalysts that investors should pay attention to, as these will represent the company being on track to achieve its Robotaxi dreams:
- Opening Robotaxi to the public without a Safety Monitor. Timing is unclear, but it appears that Tesla is getting closer by the day.
- Improvement in safety metrics without the Safety Monitor. Tesla’s ability to improve its safety metrics as it scales miles driven without the Safety Monitor is imperative as it looks to scale in new states and cities in 2026.
- Cybercab start of production, targeted for April 2026. Tesla’s Cybercab is a purpose-built vehicle (no steering wheel or pedals, only two seats) that is expected to be produced through its state-of-the-art unboxed manufacturing process, offering further cost reductions and thus accelerating adoption over time.
Robotaxi stands to be one of Tesla’s most significant revenue contributors, especially as the company plans to continue expanding its ride-hailing service across the world in the coming years.
Its current deployment strategy is controlled and conservative to avoid any drastic and potentially program-ruining incidents.
So far, the program, which is active in Austin and the California Bay Area, has been widely successful.
Tesla stock closes at all-time high on heels of Robotaxi progress
Tesla needs to come through on this one Robotaxi metric, analyst says
