Silicon Valley vs Motor City: regions compete to test self-driving cars

A 2,100-acre former military base near San Francisco or a 32-acre fake town? Both sites have won interest from automakers and technology companies as they seek to develop the future of transportation

Silicon Valley thinks it has the answer to everything. No wonder, then, that it also has the answer to the future of transportation.

"I don't think there's any better place to test self-driving cars than California," says Randy Iwasaki. "You've got a rainforest in the north, the lowest and highest points in the continental US, heavily congested urban roadways and that low, empty highway running through Death Valley."