The United States is at risk of losing its leadership in autonomous vehicles (AVs), according to a new report from the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), a nonprofit and nonpartisan initiative focused on strengthening America's long-term competitiveness in artificial intelligence.
The report, titled "The Autonomous Vehicle Crossroads," analyzes the current state of the AV industry across five categories: innovation leadership, industrial capacity, market ecosystem, talent pipeline, and national leverage. While the U.S. still leads in innovation, particularly in software and safety standards, China dominates in industrial capacity, controlling approximately 90% of the LiDAR remote sensing technology used in AVs and maintaining a stronghold on supply chains and manufacturing.
"Scaling of AVs will affect the development of autonomous systems with other industrial applications including industrial robotics, smart infrastructure, and dual-use military systems," the report notes, adding that components and cars are increasingly sourced from China.
In terms of market ecosystem, the U.S. and China are essentially tied in global funding for AV. However, China's aggressive globalization strategy has fueled mass deployment, while U.S. regulations remain fragmented across states, hindering large-scale testing and deployment.
The talent pipeline also favors China, which produces significantly more engineering graduates with AV-relevant skills and integrates intelligent vehicle curricula into its university system. The U.S. struggles to compete for a limited pool of skilled engineers.
The SCSP’s Tech Scorecard Series evaluates national competitiveness across categories, and the full report is available at scsp.ai.
