Replace private cars in Gozo with self-driving taxis, AI professor says

A leading AI expert has advocated replacing private vehicles in Gozo with self-driving rented cars in a pioneering bid to ease congestion and parking difficulties. 

Speaking during a wide-ranging panel discussion at Deloitte’s annual forum, Alexiei Dingli said he would “remove all cars from Gozo and replace them with self-driving cars”. 

While acknowledging the idea would likely prove unpopular, the AI entrepreneur and university professor argued that Gozo’s size and isolation made it an ideal location for self-driving cars. 

“The relationship with the car needs to change,” said Dingli. “It’s harder to do in larger countries, but if we are bold, we can be a light for other countries and show them what can be done with these advanced technologies.”

Addressing potential consumer cost concerns of such a setup, Dingli said self-driving cars had the potential to be considerably cheaper than ordinary ride-hailing services.

He pointed to projections by a US investment firm claiming that mass-produced self-driving electric vehicles could drive down costs of self-driving taxis to around $0.20 per mile – compared to $2 for chauffeur-driven cabs – by 2030.

Dingli’s latest transport-focused suggestion comes two years after he secured €1.3 million in funding for an AI-powered traffic management system after pitching the idea to business leaders on TVM’s Shark Tank.

Driverless cabs are in use in Abu Dhabi and cities across the US and China, with prominent US players including Uber, Google’s Waymo, Tesla Robotaxi and Amazon’s Zoox.

‘We’re still very far back’

Despite AI’s potential, Dingli warned Malta was “not ready” for more widespread use of the technology, however, amid a lack of education and private sector lethargy. 

“We’re very far back with AI education,” he told the forum, warning the university was not producing enough high-tech specialists, and that graduates were quickly being snapped up by industry.

Meanwhile, private companies were “data rich but not doing anything with that data,” he told conference delegates, while cautioning against unnecessary use of the technology: “If AI doesn’t give you any value, don’t use it”.

‘Structural pivot’

Dingli said it would take “decades” for the technology to be fully realised in Malta. 

The professor was speaking during a wide-ranging panel discussion alongside economist Stephanie Fabri and doctor and Medical Association of Malta president Patrick Sammut.

Projections for Malta’s economic and population growth over the next 25 to 75 years formed the basis for the discussion, with the panel session preceded by Deloitte tax director Nick Captur providing different scenarios for the country’s future, and asking, “What kind of country do we want to live in?”

Fabri emphasised the need for a “structural pivot” away from “reactive” to planned and data-led infrastructure, stressing “Malta doesn’t need to grow less, but smarter – we need to change the model of economic growth”.

She warned that infrastructure shortcomings represented a macroeconomic risk, warning such issues “start eroding competitiveness but doesn’t show on the books”, adding such risks were “difficult to spot and expensive to fix”.

The economist suggested land reclamation projects as a way of boosting available space to valuable industries, housing infrastructure and green spaces. 

Calling 2035 the country’s “credibility test”, Fabri said the public sector needed to “allocate capital strategically, rather than politically”.

From left: panel moderator Peter-Jan Grech, AI expert Alexei Dingli, doctor Patrick Sammut and economist Stephanie Fabri. Photo: James Cummings

‘Do what’s right’

Asked about difficulties facing the health sector, Sammut pointed to the lack of days off faced by junior doctors, recounting “shocking” instances of some junior doctors having less than five days off per month, and shifts being distributed on short notice.

The MAM president warned doctors were leaving the profession in “key areas” such as paediatrics, amid challenging working conditions in the public sector. 

Emphasising the importance of the health sector for the country’s long-term success, he stressed that “physical, mental and spiritual health is as important to a country as GDP”. 

The panel discussion closed with a lightning round, when the three panellists were asked by moderator Peter-Jan Grech to respond to hypothetical election policies, indicating their preference according to traffic light colours: green (favourable), amber (ambivalent) and red (averse).

All responded with an affirmative green to a €2.9 billion metro system and nationwide congestion tax, amber and green to universal basic income for workers edged out of the workplace, while a mixed reaction of all three colours showed for land reclamation projects.

Asked if they had a message for politicians ahead of the next election, Fabri appealed to policymakers to “have courage”; Dingli told them to “be bold”; and Sammut said: “Do what’s right, not what wins you votes” – to audience applause.