▲ Ranking of countries with the highest level of readiness for autonomous vehicles (Source: Ministry of Science and ICT, Data: confused.com)


Fully autonomous vehicles allowed on roads
The US ranks first in supporting and preparing for the era of autonomous driving

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is speeding up the commercialization of fully autonomous vehicles by publishing regulations that allow autonomous vehicles without steering wheels, accelerator pedals, or other driving devices to drive on the road.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT's Science and Technology & ICT Trends No. 211, the United States allowed autonomous vehicles equipped with Automated Driving Systems (ADS) that operate without a driver based on cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and do not have steering wheels, pedals, or driver's seats to drive on the road in March.

The difference between ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and ADS is the presence or absence of a manual control device. ADS is the stage where the vehicle goes beyond the stage of 'supporting' the driver for safety and convenience and makes all decisions and drives on its own.

It's been six years since NHTSA allowed testing of self-driving cars without steering wheels or pedals.

However, it includes a provision that it must be able to guarantee the same level of passenger safety as vehicles currently in operation, and each state and county government will need to work on revising detailed rules before it can be implemented nationwide.

Following the approval of Waymo and GM Cruise for paid autonomous taxi business on February 28, this is considered significant in that it has laid the foundation for an era of fully autonomous vehicles, and it is interpreted that the U.S. government's will to establish strong safety standards for autonomous vehicles stands out.

The United States ranked first by a landslide among the top 30 countries that are most supportive and prepared for the era of autonomous vehicles, announced by Confused.com in February. The evaluation criteria are a combination of scores for △related policies and laws △technology and innovation △consumer acceptance △infrastructure. The United States ranked first with 8.62 points, followed by Japan in second with 7.59 points, and European countries such as France, the United Kingdom, and Germany followed. Korea ranked 16th with 3.75 points.

The United States not only has the largest number of startups related to autonomous driving, but also has an overwhelming number of patent applications. There are 50 autonomous vehicle startups in the United States (second place: Israel with 11), and the number of patent applications is 127,670 (second place: Korea with 5,861).