Technical

Srinivasa Reddy Kandi: How Autonomous Vehicles Could Reshape Our Cities

September, 10, 2025-03:39

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Is Europe Ready for Self-Driving Cars?

How Autonomous Vehicles Could Reshape Our Cities

In a recent conversation with TNW, Jelle Prins — the creator of Uber’s first app — painted a vivid picture of a future transformed by autonomous vehicles. “Imagine stepping into a car in Amsterdam in the evening and waking up the next morning in a mountain village in France, ready for a day of snowboarding,” he envisioned. For Prins, self-driving cars represent the natural next step in the evolution of mobility. The question, he argued, is not if but when they will become a reality across Europe.

Prins shared his outlook on this future — alongside his latest work in AI-powered protein design — in a discussion with TNW founder Boris Veldhuijzen van Zaten on the newest episode of “Kia’s Next Big Drive.”

The conversation also highlighted the Kia EV9, the featured car in the interview. Classified as a Level 2 autonomous vehicle on the five-point scale of driving automation, it employs Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) — technology that adjusts speed to match the vehicle ahead. While it still requires a human driver, innovations like ACC are part of the gradual rollout of adaptive systems that are steadily paving the way toward Level 5 fully autonomous vehicles, where no human intervention will be necessary.

The Coming Transformation of Urban Mobility:

Self-driving technology is edging closer to becoming part of everyday life in Europe. In a recent interview with TNW, Jelle Prins — best known as the creator of Uber’s first app — shared his vision of how autonomous vehicles could redefine mobility. “Picture this,” he said, “you step into a car in Amsterdam at night and wake up the next morning in a mountain village in France, ready to hit the slopes.”

For Prins, autonomous driving isn’t a question of possibility but of timing. Alongside this outlook, he also spoke about his work on using AI to design proteins, in a conversation with TNW founder Boris Veldhuijzen van Zaten for the series “Kia’s Next Big Drive.”

The episode spotlighted the Kia EV9, a Level 2 autonomous vehicle on the standard 0–5 scale of driving automation. Equipped with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), the EV9 can automatically adjust speed to follow traffic, though it still requires a human driver. This kind of technology represents an important step in the gradual journey toward Level 5 vehicles — fully autonomous cars that will one day operate without any driver at all.

Rolling Back the Rose-Tinted Sunroof:

While autonomous vehicles (AVs) promise a future of convenience and efficiency, the road ahead is not without challenges. Just as Uber transformed mobility while disrupting traditional taxi services, widespread automation could displace millions of jobs across the transportation industry — from truck drivers and delivery workers to taxi operators.

A KPMG study estimates that AVs could reduce the cost of public transportation by as much as 50%. Yet in the Netherlands alone, where 600,000 people are employed in transport and logistics, such disruption could translate into a staggering €14 billion in lost annual income if these jobs were eliminated. This underscores the urgent need for reskilling and workforce transition programs to protect livelihoods.

Beyond economics, AVs introduce difficult ethical dilemmas. In unavoidable crash scenarios, how should a car decide between two harmful outcomes? Scholars are actively debating frameworks to align machine decision-making with human moral values.

Cybersecurity is another pressing concern. As vehicles grow increasingly connected, they also become more vulnerable to hacking, threatening not only individual passengers but entire transportation networks. In fact, researchers recently demonstrated a hack called MadRadar, which can bypass anti-spoofing defenses and trick autonomous vehicles into perceiving “phantom cars” on the road.

Author: Kandi Srinivasa Reddy, Srinivasa Reddy Kandi, #KandiSrinivasaReddy, #SrinivasaReddyKandi