I think the important bit is the government buy in and support for this. As far as autonomous driving is concerned, legislation might end up being the bottle neck in most nations.
I agree with your view on the matter, and the article did suggest that this was the case, however, they didn't show it.
In the very same paragraph that the article made note of the government's support, it also conceded that the Delphi already had pilot programs in the US.
I would expect to see some concrete examples of laws being passed.
I am not, by the way, saying that Singapore is not auto-car friendly or that they won't have them earlier or anything like that. Just that this article doesn't argue that fact.
(Edit: Not to be coy with my view: I think all the rich countries will get them at approximately the same time.)
