The United States risks losing its leadership in autonomous vehicles as China gains dominance in manufacturing, supply chains, and talent, according to a new report from the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP). The nonprofit and nonpartisan initiative, which aims to strengthen America's long-term competitiveness in AI, highlights that scaling autonomous vehicles (AVs) will impact broader autonomous systems used in industrial robotics, smart infrastructure, and dual-use military systems.
The report, part of SCSP’s Tech Scorecard Series, evaluates national competitiveness across five categories: innovation leadership, industrial capacity, market ecosystem, talent pipeline, and national leverage. In innovation, the U.S. still leads, with vehicles that set global safety standards and advanced software development, particularly in vision-language-action models. However, China dominates the physical layer, controlling approximately 90% of LiDAR remote sensing technology and maintaining complete control of supply chains and vehicle manufacturing capacity.
In market ecosystem, the U.S. and China are tied in global AV funding. While the U.S. holds the largest share, China's aggressive globalization has fueled mass deployment. The talent pipeline presents a stark contrast: China produces significantly more engineering graduates with AV-relevant skills and integrates intelligent vehicle curricula into universities, while the U.S. cannot match this output and struggles to compete for skilled engineers.
National leverage further tilts toward China, where state support and coordinated regulatory frameworks enable faster AV deployment at scale. In contrast, U.S. regulations remain a patchwork of inconsistent state-level testing and development rules. The report warns that these trends could undermine U.S. competitiveness in AI and related technologies. For the full report, visit scsp.ai.
