Autonomous vehicles are the future. Which is exactly what is leading publicly traded and private companies to race towards building the next generation of self driving technology.

‍What’s happening:‍

• There has been an acceleration in autonomous vehicle innovation recently in both the private and public markets, which has sparked an enormous amount of excitement about what the future of transportation may look like
  

Why it matters:‍

• Autonomous vehicles have been raising venture capital funding for decades, but have mostly yet to go beyond initial testing routes and controlled environments which is now beginning to change for the first time ever
  

Who is making moves:‍

• Uber (NASDAQ: UBER) has made multiple moves for getting ahead in the autonomous vehicle race, including partnering with Cruise for autonomous ride sharing and also expanding their pre existing partnership with Waymo to begin launching in new cities
  
• Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) made waves recently with the unveiling of their new line of robotaxis known as the Cyber Cab and Robovan which are built without a steering wheel or pedals
  

Going deeper:‍

• Canadian autonomous commercial vehicle startup Waabi also previously raised a mega funding round, which notably saw both Uber and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) participate
  
• Dubai previously partnered with autonomous trucking startup Einride to build the world’s largest network for autonomous trucks, which is aiming to allow shipping containers to move across the region without any human drivers
  

The intrigue:‍

• The excitement about autonomous vehicles is also reaching celebrities, with Formula 1 race car driver Nico Rosberg investing in artificial intelligence software company Applied Intuition who has partnerships focused on self driving technology with General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Toyota (NYSE: TM)

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