Czechia lags behind in readiness for autonomous cars

Czechia lags behind in readiness for autonomous vehicles in terms of technology, legislation and infrastructure, and ranks 19th out of the 25 countries surveyed, according to the global Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index prepared by consulting firm KPMG.

Czechia has been added to the list thanks to its plans to build autonomous vehicle testing grounds for BMW near Sokolov, western Bohemia. It outranks the other Visegrad Four countries (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia). Autonomous vehicle development is dominated by the USA in global terms, followed by European countries. China falls behind significantly.

The Czech government has approved a document outlining the development of autonomous vehicles in Czechia, and an action plan with specific measures is awaiting approval. The start of 2020 saw the creation of an ethics commission to address issues relating to the operation of autonomous vehicles, including contentious and emergency situations.

„As a country with a car making tradition, Czechia should be active in the autonomous vehicles segment,“ said Radek Špicar, vice-president of the Confederation of Industry. „Czechia must be one of the first countries to enable the testing of the vehicles and their real-time operation,“ he added.

Source: ČTK