As a European, I appreciate some of the checks and balances we have, but I'm increasingly worried about how long it takes new technology to reach everyday use here. Self-driving cars are one example. Waymo opened its driverless taxi service to everyone in San Francisco in 2024, while Sweden is still developing the rules for wider deployment. Not all of that gap comes down to regulation, since Waymo's head start also reflects years of development and investment. But while we wait, companies elsewhere keep gaining experience from running services at scale, and I worry about how much harder that makes it to catch up.
That wait comes on top of problems Europe already has, like fragmented markets and difficulties financing companies as they grow. Uncertain approval can make them worse by making it harder to plan investment. Sweden's guidance for automated-vehicle trials estimates three to six months from first contact to a permit, and says waits of over a year are not unusual. That includes time spent preparing the application and assessing safety, so it isn't all waiting on the regulator, but a range that wide is still hard to plan around.
Sweden already has a starting point in its time-limited trial permits, and I'd like a clearer route from those trials into time-limited commercial operation in defined areas. For that route to work, regulators should publish the safety criteria companies need to meet to renew a permit or expand a service, while keeping the power to suspend unsafe operations. Complete applications should also receive a decision with reasons by a published deadline, so a company can plan its next step.
Falling behind matters for more than convenience. When we don't build competitive companies here, our institutions end up relying on American ones for systems they can't easily replace. Imagine a European court placed under US sanctions that prohibit its American cloud provider from serving it. AWS is one example: its terms allow immediate termination to comply with the law, so staff could lose access to essential systems before replacements are ready. If we want credible European alternatives, we need to put as much effort into helping companies here reach the market as we put into regulating them. Protecting our way of life, checks and balances included, gets harder if we lose the ability to compete.