UAE among top 10 countries ready to adopt driverless cars

UAE has been placed among the top 10 countries ready to accommodate driverless vehicles for the third consecutive year, according to a report released by the KPMG.

The third edition of the Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index (AVRI), which evaluates the preparedness of 30 countries globally, places the UAE in the eighth position, up one place from last year's rankings despite the addition of five jurisdictions.

The UAE ranks ahead of the United Kingdom and Denmark and after Singapore, the Netherlands, Norway, the United States, Finland, Sweden and South Korea on the index.

The AVRI assesses the level of preparedness and openness of various countries to autonomous vehicle technology, adoption and their progress in making driverless cars a reality. The main indicators of measuring a country's readiness and progress in furthering AV deployment and innovation are policy and legislation, technology and innovation, infrastructure and consumer acceptance.

"Driverless cars will likely transform the future of transportation and their use may expand exponentially. The initiatives undertaken by the UAE Government to develop smart technologies has facilitated the nation in making automation and AVs a reality. Given the nation's strong investment in artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, 5G and maintaining good-quality infrastructure, the UAE is well on its way to achieving its goal of a future where the use of AVs becomes mainstream on its roads," said Ravi Suri, Partner, Global Head of Infrastructure Finance, KPMG Lower Gulf.

As part of its vision to become one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world, the UAE is well-positioned in technology adoption preparedness with an appointed minister of Artificial Intelligence, and the 2019 UAE National AI Program which drives its use to enrich and enhance every sector in the country.
Areas where UAE readiness was lauded:
> Technology infrastructure
> Mobile data speeds
> Readiness of individuals
> Government's overall change readiness
> Consumer information
> Communications technology (ICT) adoption
> Efficiency in legal system
reporters@khaleejtimes.com