Self-driving cars are here, but is the EU ready for them? | Noah Berger/AFP via Getty Images Self-driving cars hit European speed bump The future is now, but the EU could find itself left behind.

Every auto company you've ever heard of is making a driverless car, and the EU still doesn't know how to react.

A series of joint ventures centered on self-driving vehicles have sprung up between some of the biggest names in tech and the auto industry. In mid-August, Uber and Sweden-based Volvo heralded a pilot project for self-driving cars in Pittsburgh in the U.S. as part of the world’s first automated taxi service. Days earlier, Ford said it plans to have a self-driving taxi fleet in at least one city by 2021. The Groupe PSA, which sells the brands Peugeot and Citroën, is also testing automated vehicles.

These new models will come to rely on connectivity — how cars exchange data with manufacturers, traffic controllers, emergency services and other cars on the road.

Without higher, steady internet speeds that the EU is in charge of regulating, the cars simply won't be able to function in Europe.

“In order to keep pace in view of these rapid developments and to stay competitive vis à vis other regions around the world, the European Commission will have to swiftly respond,” said Ismail Ertug, a member of the European Parliament from the Socialists and Democrats group.

Negotiations on a U.N. regulation that keeps cars without human drivers from going faster than 10 km per hour won't be wrapped until the second half of 2017.

But targeted legislation that would let cars connected to the internet travel seamlessly from Spain to Sweden hasn't even been proposed.

And that's just one of the many legislative and regulatory hurdles for these future vehicles. Negotiations on a U.N. regulation that keeps cars without human drivers from going faster than 10 km per hour won't be wrapped until the second half of 2017. Self-driving cars couldn't compete with the speed of typical vehicles even in residential neighborhoods without breaking the law.

They could also fail safety tests according to current EU rules. These tests are now designed largely for vehicles where someone is behind the wheel — and there is no plan to review the law anytime soon. A European Parliament report in March said more assessment needed to be done on insurance and safety, too.

That could set the EU significantly behind the U.S., where self-driving cars have already been tested. Car industry players told POLITICO that the U.S. regulatory scheme is less detailed, allowing for more leeway in testing self-driving cars and new technologies compared to the EU.

Volvo says that by 2020 its models could be sold with enough installed tech to rule out death or serious injury with a driver at the wheel. Company executives think that add-ons like sensors to detect upcoming slippery roads, or warning signals if a nearby car has its hazard lights on, will help build a suite of features that shore up safety on self-driving cars. Both will rely on internet connectivity. In 2021, the carmaker wants to put a vehicle on the road that will be able to drive itself. German carmaker Daimler wants to see mostly self-driving cars on American and Western European roads in about five years.

“It’s realistic for the regulation to be there in that time frame,” Michael Hafner, director of driver assistance systems and active safety at Daimler, said.

Yet an EU Parliament report pitches fully automated self-drive at more than 20 years away.

Member countries aren't hitting the brakes. Already, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands have jumped out of the way to let BMW, Volvo and their competitors test new inventions in safe environments. In Finland, versions of the driverless bus Easymile EZ-10 have been roaming suburban Helsinki this summer as part of a month-long trial. Similar vehicles have been tried out in the Netherlands. The Swedish city of Gothenburg will test 100 Volvo self-driving cars next year. The Dutch government set-up a "platooning" exercise during its presidency of the EU earlier this year during which carmakers sent self-driving trucks from locations across Europe to converge at Rotterdam port.

A piecemeal approach across Europe means a disjointed market for new technologies. Without guidelines from Brussels, manufacturers will likely stay small and develop cars to suit a city favorable to self-drive technology.

“The EU has an important role to play in preventing countries from creating a patchwork of rules and regulations, which could hinder investments,” said Erik Jonnaert, the secretary general of the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.

Roadblocks

Tech companies have been dreaming of driverless cars even longer than the auto industry. Google has been working on its own autonomous vehicle since 2009. Research in Europe on self-driving cars dates back to the 1980s.

Carmakers and tech companies reportedly told Digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger that speeds of 500 megabits per second with less than a 10 millisecond interval were needed to make connected cars happen. That's significantly faster than anything the Commission plans to achieve in the next decade, although internet speeds approaching 1000 megabits per second are already available in some parts of the U.S.

If reception drops out in one part of your trip, it would affect a self-driving car that relies on an internet signal to transfer information with sensors on the road and with other cars.

EU bureaucrats are aiming for speeds of around 100 megabits per second (mbps) — by 2025, according to a draft Commission document. Their goal for 2020 is around 30 mbps for every European.

This poses problems for developers in countries with slower data connections. If reception drops out in one part of your trip, it would affect a self-driving car that relies on an internet signal to transfer information with sensors on the road and with other cars. Going country to country with varying internet speeds would be unthinkable.

Pan-European legislation could ensure a smooth driverless ride in any part of the continent. The two Scandinavian countries cited are furthest on the road to success.

Sweden hopes to have broadband of 100 Mbps by 2020 in 90 percent of households — getting them closer to the necessary digital infrastructure.

Berlaymont (the Commission's headquarters) insists it’s aware and is making changes. Brussels is negotiating with two working groups, one with the car industry and another between telecoms companies and carmakers. There have been talks about funding connected car tests. Policymakers are also studying intelligent transport systems.

The first priority for European policymakers is to revise an outdated EU and U.N. car regulation for steering systems. That is expected in the second half of next year. As it stands, driverless features are only available if a car is going at less than 10 km per hour. Upgraded rules could boost that speed limit.

The Commission isn't saying whether it will pick up the pace.

"We cannot speculate on how rules will apply as the European Commission is currently discussing with EU [member countries], industry and consumer organizations how to ensure all requirements are fit for purpose," Commission spokesperson Lucia Caudet said.