EDITORIAL: Where to? The challenges of automated driving around the world

Engineer them to identical and tough specs all you want; autonomous vehicles are unlikely to drive the same way everywhere. They may all have the same technical capabilities, but this world is too messy for an AV engineer in San Francisco to be working on the same problems as one in Amsterdam.

These global differences were front and center at the recebt 2026 SAE Automated Transportation Symposium (see more on page 11). I came away with renewed excitement about automated driving technology, given the real-world impact AVs are already making. Reports from Waymo, Kodiak and Uber and others all the way down prove the technology is working. But uccessful deployment depends on more than vehicle technology.