How startups are building driverless cars without Google’s billions

Enlarge / Voyage operates low-speed self-driving taxis in two retirement communities. (credit: Voyage)

There's near-universal agreement that Google spinoff Waymo is the leading company in the driverless-vehicle business. And Waymo's strategy for developing fully driverless cars is very expensive. Before launching a commercial driverless car service, Waymo needs to convince itself-and the world-that its cars will be at least as safe as human drivers.

That has meant racking up millions of test miles on public roads, a process that has taken several years and cost Waymo well over $1 billion.

Waymo's more established competitors-including Uber, GM's Cruise, and the Ford-aligned Argo.ai-are pursuing a similar strategy. But a number of startups is also trying to build fully autonomous cars. And many of these companies simply don't have the money it takes to follow Waymo's lead. They need a different strategy-one that allows them to bring a product to market more quickly and at lower cost.

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