Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are the rave of the moment! This technology, once considered a myth, is now a reality. From the streets of San Francisco to the highways in Houston, self-driving cars have taken over, all thanks to the autonomous vehicle companies in the U.S. making this possible.
The excitement and apprehension around this technology is palpable. But the truth is, driverless vehicles have the potential to revolutionize transportation in our society.
AVs are designed to eliminate human error, which is the leading cause of accidents. With advanced sensors, cameras, and AI algorithms, AVs can detect and react to hazards more quickly and effectively than human drivers, potentially reducing accidents significantly.
One of the biggest attractions of this technology is the fact that it can provide transportation to individuals who are unable to drive themselves, such as the elderly, sick, disabled, or those without a driver’s license. This can greatly improve their quality of life and independence.
Autonomous vehicles have many other benefits like reducing traffic congestion, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, creating new business opportunities, and improving economic growth.
The AV market size reached $158.3B in 2023 and could reach $2.3T by 2032. McKinsey predicts that by 2030, vehicles that are fully autonomous will be able to operate “anywhere, anytime” with Level 5 technology, the highest standard of technology available.
As AVs move closer towards mainstream utility, here are the top companies in the U.S. powering this driverless cutting-edge technology:
- Waymo (backed by Alphabet Inc.)
- Tesla (independent)
- Cruise (backed by General Motors)
- Zoox (backed by Amazon)
- Motional (backed by Hyundai and Aptiv)
- Nvidia
- Apple (independent)
- Aurora Innovation (backed by Amazon)
- Argo AI (backed by Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen Group)
- Nuro (backed by Softbank Vision Fund)
- Beep
- Gatki (backed by Koch Disruptive Technologies)
- TuSimple (backed by SinaCorp)
- Pony.ai (backed by Toyota & others)
- Kodiak Robotics (backed by Bridgestone Americas & others)
- May Mobility
- Nexar
- Luminar Technologies
- Ouster
- Embark Trucks
- Waymo
Year Founded: 2009
Location: Mountain View, CA
Funding: $2.5B Series B funding
Value: Estimated to be over $30 billion
Key Facts: Waymo began as a secret. The project was started by Sebastian Thrun, who led his robotics team with Stanford University to win the DARPA Grand Challenge.
Waymo is considered a leader in developing autonomous driving technology. Its cars have now logged more than 8 million miles on public roads.
- Tesla
Year Founded: 2003
Location: Austin, Texas
Funding: Public company, funding through public markets
Valuation: Market cap over $600 billion
Key Facts: Tesla is a pioneer in the development of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) called Autopilot. This technology is one of the most well-known semi-autonomous driving systems on the market. Autopilot runs on Level 2 automation, as defined by SAE International.
Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has stated that Tesla plans to commence testing of its Level 5 autonomous vehicles later this year. The branding for this beta testing program is known as “Full Self-Driving (FSD).”
According to the company, the Full Self-Driving capability is a pre-release upgrade package to Autopilot offering additional ADAS features, such as traffic light recognition, autopark, etc.
Elon Musk is not a fan of the LiDAR technology and does not plan to use it in its Full Self-Driving capability vehicles. Rather, Tesla’s approach to try to achieve SAE Level 5 is to train a neural network using the behavior of 6+ million Tesla drivers using chiefly visible light cameras and the coarse-grained two-dimensional maps used for navigation.
- Cruise
Year Founded: 2013
Location: San Francisco, California
Funding: Majority-owned by General Motors, with investments from Honda, Microsoft, and others.
Valuation: Estimated at $30 billion
Key Facts: Cruise is a pioneer in the development of custom self-driving vehicles without steering wheels or pedals. The AV company, focused on developing robotaxi services for urban environments, launched its first fully driverless commercial ride-hailing services in a limited area in San Francisco.
Cruise lost its operational license in California due to series of crashes and complaints. The most talked about being an accident that saw a Cruise robotaxi inadvertently hit and drag a female pedestrian for about 20 feet about halting on a sidewalk. This happened in October 2023. After losing its license, Cruise suspended operations and recalled all its driverless fleet.
Cruise resumed testing operations in 2024, but the company said their vehicles, driving on public roads, will be accompanied by a “safety driver” behind the wheels who will monitor the vehicle and take over if needed.
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- Zoox
Year Founded: 2014
Location: Foster City, California
Funding: Acquired by Amazon
Valuation: Acquired for over $1.2 billion
Key Facts: Zoox is Amazon’s independent and subsidiary autonomous vehicle company. It aims to create autonomous mobility from the ground up, with a focus on ride-hailing services.
The Zoox vehicle is bidirectional, meaning it can travel in either direction without turning around. It has no steering wheel or pedals, and the interior is designed for face-to-face seating.
Zoox utilizes a comprehensive sensor suite, including cameras, LiDAR, and radar, to provide 360-degree awareness of its surroundings. The AV brand prioritizes safety in its design and development process. They have conducted extensive testing in various environments.
As a subsidiary of Amazon, Zoox has access to significant resources and expertise.
Zoox became the first company to self-certify a purpose-built, fully autonomous, all-electric passenger vehicle to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), a significant milestone.
- Motional
Year Founded: 2020
Location: Boston, MA
Funding: Acquired/Merged, last deal amount $923M
Valuation: Not publicly disclosed
Key Facts: A joint venture of Hyundai and Aptiv. Motional is one of the most established players in the robotaxi space, with a strong track record of public deployments. The company combines Hyundai’s expertise in vehicle manufacturing with Aptiv’s experience in advanced safety technologies and autonomous driving systems.
Motional has partnered with major ride-hailing companies like Lyft and Uber to offer robotaxi services in multiple cities.
Safety is a core value for Motional, with rigorous testing and validation procedures to ensure the reliability of their autonomous systems. To date, Motional has provided over 100,000 self-driving rides with zero at-fault accidents on its record.
Motional is actively expanding its robotaxi services to new cities around the world.
- Nvidia
Year Founded: 1993
Location: Santa Clara, California
Funding: Public company, funding through public markets
Valuation: Market cap approximately $300 billion as of 2021
Key Facts: Nvidia is not directly building autonomous vehicles. They are a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and software that power the complex computing systems needed for self-driving cars.
Nvidia is a pioneer in AI and deep learning, and they leverage this expertise to create algorithms for AV perception, decision-making, and path planning.
Their DRIVE platform is a comprehensive solution for AV development, encompassing hardware (SoCs, GPUs), software (DRIVE OS, Drive AV, Drive IX), and infrastructure (DRIVE Constellation). It provides the computational horsepower and software tools necessary for perception, mapping, planning, and control.
Nvidia’s DGX systems provide the data center infrastructure required for training and fine-tuning deep learning models for AVs.
Nvidia collaborates with numerous automakers, tier-1 suppliers, and software developers to integrate its technology into various AV platforms. Some notable partners include Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Toyota, and Hyundai.
- Apple
Year Founded: 1976
Location: Cupertino, California
Funding: Public company, funding through public markets
Valuation: Market cap over $2 trillion as of 2021
Key Facts: Apple is rumored to be working on an electric vehicle project known as ‘Project Titan’. This is one of Apple’s most secretive projects, with few details publicly confirmed.
- Aurora Innovation
Year Founded: 2017
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Funding: Publicly traded (Nasdaq: AUR) with significant investments from Amazon, Sequoia, and others
Valuation: Market cap fluctuates (check current stock price)
Key Facts: Aurora Innovation was co-founded by former heads of Google, Tesla, and Uber’s self-driving divisions. Their core technology is the Aurora Driver, a self-driving computer system designed to be adaptable to multiple vehicle types (trucks, passenger cars, etc.)
Aurora Innovation prioritizes safety through rigorous testing, redundancy in systems, and a phased approach to deployment, starting with highway trucking. They utilize extensive simulation and virtual testing environments to accelerate development and ensure safety before real-world deployment.
Aurora Innovation has had collaborations with major automakers like Toyota, Volvo, and PACCAR to integrate the Aurora Driver into their vehicles.
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- Argo AI
Year Founded: 2016
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Funding: Currently out of business
Valuation: Valued at $12.4 billion in 2022
Key Facts: Argo AI was a multi-billion dollar self-driving project of Ford and Volkswagen. Ford invested $1 billion in the self-driving startup in 2017, and Volkswagen later joined with a $2.6 billion investment. They had hoped to compete with other self-driving brands like Waymo, Tesla, Amazon, Uber, etc.
However, in 2022 it shut down. Ford said it didn’t attract new investors, and that profitability was “a long way off.” VW still pursued autonomous driving projects for commercial uses, and Ford focused on more modest L2 and L3 driver assistance tech. Hopefully, Argo AI can make a comeback.
- Nuro
Year Founded: 2016
Location: Mountain View, CA
Funding: Over $2.1 billion from Softbank, Woven Capital, Kroger, and others in funding over 7 rounds
Valuation: Estimated at over $8.6 billion (as of 2023)
Key Facts: Nuro develops electric, fully autonomous vehicles for local goods delivery, not passenger transportation.
They design and manufacture their own compact, electric delivery vehicles (R1 and R2) specifically optimized for local deliveries.
Nuro has partnered with major retailers like Kroger, Domino’s, Walmart, and FedEx for pilot delivery programs. They are the first company to receive a permit from the U.S. Department of Transportation to deploy autonomous delivery vehicles on public roads.
Regarding safety, Nuro emphasizes features like external airbags and a low speed design.
- Beep
Year Founded: 2019
Location: Lake Nona, Florida
Funding: Private, with investments from various partners
Valuation: Not publicly disclosed
Key Facts: Beep, Inc. is a leading provider of autonomous and electric shared mobility solutions. Their shuttles provide transportation within specific areas, connecting residents and visitors to key destinations.
Beep utilizes NAVYA’s Autonom Shuttle vehicles for its operations. It has successfully deployed its autonomous shuttle services in several locations, including Honolulu’s international airport, Lake Nona in Florida, Yellowstone National Park, etc.
Beep’s focus on first- and last-mile transportation in planned communities sets it apart from companies targeting broader autonomous vehicle applications.
- Gatik
Year Founded: 2017
Location: Palo Alto, California (with operations in Texas and Canada)
Funding: $120+ million from Koch Disruptive Technologies, Wittington Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, and others
Valuation: Not publicly disclosed
Key Facts: Gatik is focused exclusively on autonomous middle-mile logistics for the B2B retail industry. This means they automate the transport of goods between distribution centers, dark stores, and retail locations.
Gatik’s AVs operate on fixed, repeatable routes, which simplifies the technological challenge and allows them to achieve higher levels of reliability. The company has successfully deployed its autonomous trucks in several states, partnering with major retailers like Walmart and Loblaw Companies Ltd.
- TuSimple
Year Founded: 2015
Location: San Diego, California
Funding: Publicly traded on Nasdaq
Valuation: Fluctuating, currently around $1 billion
Key Facts: TuSimple is solely dedicated to revolutionizing the trucking industry with autonomous technology. This narrow focus allows them to concentrate their resources and expertise on solving the specific challenges of long-haul trucking.
TuSimple operates a fleet of autonomous trucks for testing and freight hauling in the southwestern United States. They have partnered with major trucking companies and shippers like UPS and Navistar.
In 2023, TuSimple exited the U.S. for China after a string of controversies and the loss of a critical partnership with truck manufacturer – Navistar.
Before their exit, TuSimple was standing tall as the leading self-driving truck developer in the United States.
- Pony.AI
Year Founded: 2016
Location: Fremont, California (with major operations in China)
Funding: Over $1.2 billion from investors like Toyota, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and others.
Valuation: Estimated at over $8.5 billion (as of April 2023)
Key Facts: Pony.ai operates and tests robotaxi services in both the U.S. (California) and China (Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai). They developed a “Virtual Driver” system that simulates human-like driving behavior for realistic testing and validation.
Pony.ai is known for its advanced self-driving technology stack, including perception, prediction, planning, and control algorithms. They collaborate with Toyota to develop and deploy robotaxis, leveraging Toyota’s manufacturing expertise and Pony.ai’s software.
In May 2022, Pony.ai had its permit revoked by the California DMV for failing to monitor the driving records of the safety drivers on its testing permit. As of June 2023, Pony.ai has resumed testing its fleet with safety drivers present in California.
- Kodiak Robotics
Year Founded: 2018
Location: Mountain View, California
Funding: Over $500 million from investors like Bridgestone Americas, BMW, iVentures, and others
Valuation: Not publicly disclosed, but estimated in the hundreds of millions
Key Facts: Kodiac Robotics exclusively focuses on the development of autonomous technology for long-haul trucking.
Unlike many AV companies, Kodiak relies primarily on cameras and radar, minimizing the use of expensive LiDAR sensors. They believe this approach is more scalable and cost-effective for commercial deployment.
Kodiac developed a proprietary mapping system called “lightweight mapping” that requires less detailed mapping data than competitors, allowing for quicker expansion into new routes.
They are collaborating with major trucking companies like Werner Enterprises and U.S. Xpress to test and deploy their technology.
Kodiac recently launched the sixth-generation Kodiak Robotics Inc. self-driving truck that does not need a safety driver in the autonomous semi-truck.
Kodiac trucks have carried 5,000 loads over more than 2.5 million miles.
- May Mobility
Year Founded: 2017
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Funding: $166 Million from various investors including Toyota
Valuation: Not Publicly Disclosed
Key Facts: May Mobility focuses on providing autonomous shuttle services for specific routes, often in partnership with public transit agencies. Their driverless fleet has provided over 320,000 public rides around the world since its first route in 2019.
May operates in urban, suburban, and rural environments, showcasing the adaptability of their technology. Their AVs are ommitted to accessibility, with all fleets including wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
May has a Proprietary Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) system, which enables vehicles to virtually simulate thousands of scenarios per second to make safe decisions.
- Nexar
Year Founded: 2015
Location: New York City, New York
Funding: $135 million+ in total funding from investors including Ibex, Alibaba, Nationwide, State Farm Ventures, and others.
Valuation: Not publicly disclosed
Key Facts: Nexar is not primarily an autonomous vehicle (AV) company. Rather, they focus on utilizing artificial intelligence and dash cam technology to improve road safety and the driving experience.
Nexar uses AI to analyze dash cam footage for accidents, hazards, and road conditions. They also provide valuable data to cities, insurers, and fleet managers to improve safety.
In a nutshell, Nexar contributes to the broader AV ecosystem through data and insights.
- Luminar Technologies
Year Founded: 2012
Location: Orlando, Florida
Funding: Publicly traded (LAZR)
Valuation: Approximately $2.5 billion (as of June 2024)
Key Facts: Luminar focuses solely on developing and manufacturing high-performance LiDAR sensors, a crucial component for AV perception systems. Their LiDARs are known for their long range, high resolution, and ability to detect objects in challenging conditions like rain, fog, and darkness.
Unlike many LiDAR startups focused on R&D, Luminar is delivering production-ready LiDARs that are being integrated into vehicles by major automakers. This has earned them partnerships with Volvo, Daimler Trucks, and SAIC Motor, among others.
- Ouster
Year Founded: 2015
Location: San Francisco, California
Funding: Publicly traded (NYSE: OUST)
Valuation: Market cap around $200 million (as of June 2024)
Key Facts: Like Luminar, Ouster is a leading provider of high-resolution LiDAR sensors, a critical component for AV perception.
Their LiDAR sensors use a unique digital architecture that offers several advantages over traditional analog LiDAR, including lower cost, higher resolution, and greater reliability.
Ouster has partnered with several leading AV companies, including Waymo, Ike, and Yandex, to provide LiDAR sensors for their self-driving systems.
- Embark Trucks
Year Founded: 2016
Location: San Francisco, California
Funding: Publicly traded on Nasdaq (NASDAQ: EMBK)
Valuation: Market cap around $4 billion (June 2024)
Key Facts: Embark Trucks focuses on autonomous trucking for long-haul freight. The AV company is not building its own trucks. Instead, they focus on developing a universal self-driving software that can be integrated into existing truck fleets.
In March 2023, Embark Trucks laid off 70% of its workforce and got acquired by Applied Intuition in a $71 million deal.
Prior to this acquisition, Embark Trucks had partnered with major freight carriers like Werner Enterprises and Knight-Swift and operated a fleet of autonomous trucks on highways across the U.S.
Conclusion
These U.S. autonomous vehicle companies represent the zenith of self-driving excellence. They are a mirror showcasing how far autonomous vehicles have come, how much they have accomplished, and what lies ahead.
Experts predict that the autonomous car market will have a value of approximately $196.97 billion by 2030. This is a big leap from it’s 2021 global market size, which stood at $25.14 billion.
As regulators and cities get more comfortable with this technology, there is no limit to what AVs can achieve.
Keep your eyes peeled on the road, you might just see an AV driving by.
I’m Dr. Brandial Bright, also known as the AVangelist. As a dedicated and passionate researcher in autonomous and electric vehicles (AVs and EVs), my mission is to educate and raise awareness within the automotive industry. As the Founder and Managing Partner of Fifth Level Consulting, I promote the adoption and innovation of advanced vehicle technologies through speaking engagements, consulting, and research as we progress to level 5 fully autonomous vehicles.
