At a recent event in Milan in Lombardy, the initiative “Autonomous Driving: Italy in the Front Row” was luanched. More than 60 mayors from across the country — including those from major cities like Milan, Turin, and Genoa — have committed to turning their municipalities into real-world testing grounds for self-driving vehicles.

The move comes as Italy, and Europe more broadly, attempts to catch up with the United States and China in deploying autonomous vehicle technology. While U.S. companies are already running large-scale programs and China has established several major pilot zones, Europe still lags behind, with most of its projects small in scale and limited in scope.