Autonomous vehicles will end road deaths in Europe, says Slovenian minister

 The rollout of autonomous vehicles has the potential to reduce traffic by 90% and bring road deaths to zero, but serious technological hurdles remain, Mark Boris Andrijanic, Slovenia’s minister for digital transformation, has said.

A society wide-shift to electric, autonomous, and shared mobility will transform Europe, cutting household costs and boosting safety, according to Andrijanic, a former policy advisor for the American car-hailing company Uber.

“Autonomous vehicles will provide affordable mobility for everyone, giving back valuable time, unclogging our streets and hopefully saving lives,” he said, speaking at a EURACTIV-organised conference on self-driving vehicles.

Andrijanic lamented the slow pace of technological development in Europe, which he said is lagging the United States. (...)