Spain: nobody’s behind the wheel
My regular Friday column this week in Expansión, Spain’s leading financial daily, is called Spain: nobody’s behind the wheel (pdf in Spanish), and uses the example of the development of technology related to self-driving cars to illustrate the repercussions of the absence of any minimally coherent R+D and education policy or legal framework relating to technology in this country.
Spain has not only failed to encourage technological development, it has actually discouraged it. We need only look at the latest policies that have put Spain among the enemies of technology: the country provokes the absurd and impossible-to-apply EU legislation protecting the supposed “right to be forgotten”; it kicks out Google News; it has become the lab where legislation to fight the development of Airbnb is being tested; it has stopped Uber by twisting the law; it has discouraged the use of solar energy despite being one of the countries in the world with the best conditions to develop this source of renewable energy; it’s the country where using certain web sites is a criminal activity; and it’s the place where entrepreneurism comes at a heavy price. This is the “just in case” country where there is always a law that can be changed to protect incumbents from any technology that might interfere with their peace of mind.
The absence of a coherent technology policy has put Spain among the countries that put the most obstacles in the way of innovation, the most protective in terms of the digital economy, along with China, India, Nigeria, Russia, and Indonesia, according to The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) think tank.
It’s failure to understand the potential of self-driving vehicles is just another example of this country’s short-sightedness; one of many. This country has slashed research spending, introduced new laws, has failed to establish priorities for technology development and created a chaotic situation that leads one to assume that this country will not be able to create value or develop a true information society able to generate qualified employment. In short: a recipe for disaster.
Below, the translated article in full.
Spain: nobody’s behind the wheel
The German government has just announced the upcoming approval of raft of laws that will allow driverless vehicles on its roads. The need to do so is not based on the imminent arrival of such transport, which will take another four or five years, but on the overriding need for the German car industry to be the leader in this sector.
So while the Germans are making every effort to carry out road tests and the first driverless Audis and Mercedes Benzes are being unveiled not at car shows but at technology fairs, Google’s Prius-based versions have already covered millions of miles, while its own model, built in the country’s motor city, Detroit, is ready for use.
Meanwhile, another US company, Uber, has just announced a partnership with the Carnegie Mellon university to develop driverless vehicles to replace its fleet of drivers, a move aimed at making it the benchmark for transport as a service.
What are we to make of these developments? In the first place, if you’re making decisions about where to live or which car to buy, bear in mind that technology will soon mean that driverless vehicles will literally be round the corner. Driving will cease to be a person thing and become a machine thing, and we will stop buying cars, and instead rent them as we need them.
Secondly, the decisions governments make about technology are impacting on their country’s ability to compete in the future. The United States and Germany want to be leaders in that future, which means passing new laws, new education policies, and many other decisions. Are we seeing anything like this in Spain? No. Quite simply, there’s nobody behind the wheel.
(En español, aquí)
