Partial autonomous driving could arrive in Europe by the end of this year, with fully self-driving vehicles potentially hitting the continent by 2027, Nvidia’s vice president of automotive, Ali Kani, told Euronews Next. The semiconductor and artificial intelligence company has focused on providing the software “intelligence layer” that powers autonomous vehicles rather than building its own cars.
Kani said AI is a critical accelerator for self-driving technology, helping cut costs and enabling safer operations. “We need to go as fast as regulation allows us, and I think what we see is it’s opening up,” he said. Level 2+ systems, where the vehicle can steer, brake, and accelerate but the driver remains responsible, could arrive by year-end. Level 4 autonomy, which allows cars to operate without human intervention under certain conditions, may be deployed by 2027, he added.
Trials are already being announced in major cities such as London, although full regulatory approval depends on performance in real-world conditions. Europe currently allows Level 2 systems and has approved Level 3 under controlled circumstances. Challenges persist, illustrated this week by Mercedes-Benz temporarily pausing its Drive Pilot “eyes off” feature in both Europe and the US, according to German publication Handelsblatt.
Nvidia recently announced its Drive AV software will power a robotaxi alliance between Lucid, Uber, and Nuro. Mercedes-Benz, a partner of Nvidia, plans to launch an advanced driver-assistance system in the US this quarter, with a European and Asian rollout expected in the second quarter, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang said.
Safety remains a core focus. Kani emphasized that Nvidia designs its systems to avoid accidents rather than trying to outperform human drivers. The company uses diverse sensors and runs two systems simultaneously: an end-to-end AI model and a dedicated safety stack. “The foundation is that two things are running, and the safety stack will make sure you never make a mistake. That means the AI model on its own is not something we depend on. We have a Safety Guard built into the system,” Kani said. The Drive AV software earned a five-star safety rating from the European New Car Assessment Programme in the Mercedes-Benz CLA.
Long-term challenges include handling “long tail scenarios,” or rare, unexpected situations. Kani cited a December incident where Waymo’s robotaxis in San Francisco struggled to read malfunctioning traffic lights during a power outage. In Europe, he noted that rural roads could pose similar risks, such as narrow lanes with no shoulders to pull over.
Despite these hurdles, Nvidia sees autonomous driving as transformative for urban planning and daily life. Vehicles could drop passengers off and return home, reducing the need for parking in cities. “You can just redesign a city so that we have more space for people to live and put parking lots further away,” Kani said.
He also highlighted the personal convenience of self-driving cars. On a commute of nearly two hours, Kani said he could work, relax, or even sleep while traveling. “I just feel like there are so many things we could do with our time if we had that [autonomous driving], and I would love that. So I’m looking forward to that when we get there,” he said.
