In several US cities, you can ride in a self-driving taxi. In Europe, many countries are currently experimenting with driverless lorries, buses and taxis. But how far have we got in Denmark? Read the answers from Otto Anker Nielsen, Professor of Transport Modelling at DTU.
Which countries are well ahead with self-driving cars?
Apart from the US and China, several European countries are significantly further ahead than Denmark: Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands are testing self-driving lorries.
In Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Oslo, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Tallinn, Leuven and Edinburgh, self-driving buses are being tested, and in Oslo, London, Hamburg and Zurich, robot taxis are being trialled.
What these countries have in common is that they have more efficient approval processes, larger test areas and closer cooperation between authorities and industry. This gives them both technological experience and a head start in the mobility market of the future. In Denmark, very little is happening in this area.
Why is Denmark lagging behind?
Denmark has a special scheme whereby an external assessor must approve all aspects of trials involving driverless vehicles. Experience shows that the assessor scheme can be costly and time-consuming, and sometimes the assessor also lacks sufficient insight into both the industry and the technology.
How can we catch up with developments?
It is too late to be frontrunners, but there are several opportunities to become a fast follower. Denmark could follow Norway’s example, where the national road authorities themselves build up the necessary technical expertise to enable them to assess and approve pilot projects involving self-driving vehicles. This also means that the authorities will later have a knowledge base from which to regulate the technology.
Another approach for us could be to make better use of the approvals granted by other countries. If, for example, we in Denmark need to have an experiment approved, it should be the case that we do not require a Danish approval for those parts of the trial that have already been carried out in another EU country, provided that it can be demonstrated that the trial was safe based on road safety data.
Is the technology even safe–there have been accidents in the US?
There is no clear-cut answer to that. Great achievements have been made in artificial intelligence, but it will depend on how well the specific vehicle and system are designed, and the context in which it operates. If it is on motorways or Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in a dedicated lane, it is less complicated than in cities where there are many cyclists and pedestrians.
It also depends on road maintenance and weather conditions. Fortunately, cars and buses are extremely safe, and accidents are very rare, but this also means that a given system of autonomous cars must be tested for an extremely long time before one actually knows how safe they are.
One can probably imagine that the technology will first be rolled out on motorways, as is already partly the case for certain car models in Germany, and also that BRT and other public transport solutions, which operate on a specific, thoroughly tested section of the road network and with remote monitoring from a central control centre, can run safely before we see self-driving private cars driving in Danish city centres.
What benefits can we reap from self-driving cars in Denmark?
We could potentially benefit greatly from them in rural areas, where young people, the elderly and others who cannot drive are dependent on public transport. With driverless vehicles, such as on-demand transport services and minibuses, citizens will become more mobile and can more easily connect with long-distance trains and buses.
One can also envisage self-driving buses both in towns and in rural areas. They will be cheaper to operate, and this could make it possible to increase the number of services.
Overall, it is important that we integrate autonomous vehicles with public transport, as they should not replace trains, buses, etc., but serve as a supplement. Otherwise, we risk shifting too many people into self-driving cars and creating even worse congestion around and within cities.
Furthermore, one can envisage lorries becoming self-driving, for example between major terminals along the motorway network, thereby enabling supply chains to save costs. One can also envisage small units for local parcel delivery.
Will this lead to job losses?
Some driving jobs will gradually be phased out, but the transition will be slow. At the same time, new jobs will emerge in traffic monitoring, customer service, and the maintenance and operation of autonomous vehicles. Overall, mobility in society will improve. This could have positive effects on the labour market and boost productivity, which together could help to promote employment.
A project on autonomous S-trains (Copenhagen's commuter rail network, ed.) shows that new roles and skills will be necessary. In the freight sector, there will continue to be a need for loading and unloading at both ends of the journey. However, in the long term, this too could increasingly be automated.
How close are we to self-driving private cars?
The technology is closer than many people think. In Denmark, Tesla is already testing an AI-based autonomous solution at what is known as Level 2. This means that the driver must keep their eyes on the road and be ready to intervene.
In Germany, the Mercedes-Benz EQS has been approved for level 3 driverless driving on selected sections of the German motorways. This means that the driver does not need to monitor the driving.
It is estimated that around 2 percent (approx. 3,000) of new passenger cars sold in 2025 in this country had built-in technology that can be upgraded to drive entirely without the driver having to pay attention.
