In a recent interview with TNW, Jelle Prins, the spirit behind Uber’s first app, shared his vision of a world that was changed by autonomous vehicles. “Imagine you get into a car here in Amsterdam,” he thought, “and the next morning in a mountain village in France for a day of snowboarding.” In his thoughts, the next step is the next step in the development of mobility, and the question is not whether it will end up in Europe.
He shared his vision for this future – and his plans to design proteins with AI – with TNW founder Boris Veldhuijzen van Zaten in the last episode of “Kia’s Next Big Drive”.
Take a look at the full interview by clicking below:
The Kia EV9 presented in the interview is an autonomous level 2 vehicle, which is based on a scale of driving automation of 0: 5. It uses adaptive cruise control (ACC), an advanced technology with which the car can drive more autonomously by corresponding to the speed of the car in front of the car. However, a human driver is still needed. All of this is part of the gradual publication of new adaptive technologies by car manufacturers that bring us closer and closer to autonomous level 5 vehicles for which no driver is required.
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While AVS are gradually introduced in the trade, we can expect AVS to be taken over at a much faster pace in public transport. As part of Horizon 2020, the European Commission is currently financing research projects in driverless public transport in the entire EU. But the United States, China and the recent times of Great Britain are already far ahead – and reach speed.
In the United States, companies such as Waymo (Alphabet’s AV subsidiary) have already used commercial robotaxi services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin. Next year, plan to expand to Atlanta, Miami and Washington, DC in 2026. In China, Baidu tested its Apollo Go Autonomous Hageling service in over 15 cities and strived for 100 cities by 2030.
Even the United Kingdom, which was often taken over more slowly for the aspiring mobility technology, passed a pioneering automated vehicle (AV) technology in 2024, creating a uniform legal framework. Pilot -AV programs are planned for 2026, with Wayve and Uber already planning experiments.
In contrast, the EU remains fragmented. With inconsistent infrastructure, unrestricted 5G coverage and without a common regulatory roadmap, the block risks fall – unless it can harmonize standards and speed up the investments.
How AVS could redesign our cities
Imagine the channels of Amsterdam, which are equipped by parking spaces and instead lined with trees, municipal gardens and outdoor cafes. What if Barcelona’s “Superblocks”, the urban planning aimed at bringing the city dwellers to traffic -limited, pedestrian -friendly zones, could be brought to cities such as Paris and Berlin?
AVS could preserve these trends and make cities more lives and more accessible to everyone.
The further life outside the city could be less a problem if your shuttle traffic becomes part of your morning ritual. Passengers could enjoy a cup of coffee, read or cheer on their laptop without having to concentrate on the street.
AVS could communicate and coordinate its movements with the smart city infrastructure to enable traffic management in real time. This could lead to an optimized routing, reduced overload and a more smooth flow of traffic. For example, some cities with dynamic traffic lights, which adapt to traffic conditions with sensors, cameras and algorithms in real time.
Is Europe ready for an AV future?
Roll the pink sun roof back
Not all potential consequences of AVS are positive. As with the rise of Uber, an automation wave could interfere with millions of jobs in the transport sector, from truck drivers to deliveries and taxi companies.
According to KPMG calculations, AVS could reduce the cost of public transport by up to 50%. In view of 600,000 people in the transport and logistics sector in the Netherlands, the total loss of income could amount to € 14 billion a year if these workplaces are lost. Reskilling programs must be introduced for these employees.
AVS also raise disturbing ethical questions. For example, how should a car choose between two harmful results in an inevitable crash scenario? In order to prepare for this future, scientists discuss the best way to align such intelligent systems with human moral judgment.
There is also the problem of cyber security. If vehicles are better connected, they are also susceptible to hacking and risks not only for passengers, but also for entire transport systems. Last year, the researchers developed a hack that called Madradar named Madradar, the anti-spoofing protection was able to bypass and produce AVS-Hallucination of phantom cars on the street.
Infrastructure needs
The future of autonomy depends more than software and sensors – it needs roads to meet the technician. A great challenge is the lack of consistent signage and street standards across Europe. A 2023 literature overview emphasizes how variations in the signage design, language and placement in the EU countries represent important hurdles for AVS that are based on image detection and machine learning to interpret their surroundings.
Then the question of digital infrastructure is. Reliable 5G networks, V2X communication (vehicle-to-all-everything) and current digital maps are of essential importance for decision-making and security in real time. Cities to which these assets are missing is to be left behind.
The regulatory labyrinth
After all, there is the question of legislation. From mid-2025, each EU member state has very different rules for AV tests and preparations.
Liability also remains a dark problem: if a self-driving car falls, who is a guilt-like manufacturer, the software developer or the passenger?
These inconsistencies could slow down adoption in Europe, even if Tech giants run in advance in the USA and China. Until governments create uniform framework conditions that ensure security without suppression of innovations, the mass use remains at the distant horizon.
Mentality shifts
It is still unclear whether AVS are actually safer or not as a human driver. In a study by Swiss Re that came out this year, the autonomous vehicles from Waymo claimed up to 92% less liability claims than people powered by humans. However, other studies have emphasized that AVS are still facing challenges in complex scenarios such as Dawn/Dawn and turning to intersections, where they have higher accident rates compared to human drivers.
Interestingly, a study of the psychological prejudices that the drivers have via AVS showed this:
- People have AVS for higher security standards than human drivers.
- Many overestimate their own driving skills.
- The safer people think they are, the more they expect from an AV.
The researchers argued that the concentration on safety as the main advantage of AVS could be the wrong approach.
So … how quickly will we see AVS on European streets?
On “Kia’s Next Big Drive”, Prins predicted that self -driving vehicles will be “soon” on European roads. But the reality is more nuanced. Technologically, AVS are approaching. We are still socially and politically playing catching up.
The question is no longer whether autonomous vehicles arrive – but how we will adapt when they do it. Will we use the potential for greener, safer and accessible cities? Or will we replicate the mistakes of the past and replace a number of problems with another?
One thing is certain: the self -driving future is not just about cars. It is about reinterpreting the way we live, move and are connected to the world around us. And this future is approaching quickly.
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