Zoox, a start-up with an Australian designer and a Standford professor (not out of the mainstream in Silicon Valley), is number 12. Company number 12 in California to obtain a driverless vehicle testing permit. Going to the Zoox website reveals a musical band and not a technology or automotive company. I think they are looking for gigs, the band that is.
Bentley Motors, the luxury auto company, which, by the way, has a website, is also working on driverless transportation, though probably a very fancy kind. Apparently, their prototypes have sofas. Nice cushy ones, of course. I'm wondering if a good brand of Scotch will come with the vehicle. Bentley is talking of exclusive lanes for elite cars - meaning expensive - but I'm not sure anyone else is.
Behind, but well organized - watch the rearview mirror
Japan is upset, or at least its car companies are. They are going all out - together - to advance driverless technology in their island nation, and, presumably, for eventual sale around the world. This is to the tune of three TRILLION dollars. Not million, not billion, but trillion. I don't even know how to spell that, but I got past the spellcheck on the first try. Very proud.
The Japanese are also going to be drafting international standards for driverless vehicles. I think that is actual international standards and not international in the sense of the US-based, Canadian participation, World Series for baseball, which has the word "world," but means the US, with Canada as a friendly afterthought.
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