These 5 companies will dominate driverless cars
This article original posted on techinsider.io
There’s been quite the arms race for driverless cars, with many companies declaring that their technology will hit markets by 2020.
But a recent report released by Juniper Research, a mobile and digital market research firm, has listed the top five players that are most likely to bring self-driving cars to consumers.
The automakers were scored on the follow categories: time spent developing related technologies; first live test and other trials conducted; the number of miles tested on public roads; the size of the fleet; media coverage; employees working on autonomous projects; and future opportunities.
Some companies that were selected based on those factors were then interviewed by Juniper’s research team to finalize the ranking, a Juniper Research spokesperson told Tech Insider.
Here’s a look at the top five players, according to the report.
5. Apple
Apple has been notoriously hush about even confirming plans about creating a car. We have no knowledge of first trials or subsequent tests, and any tests that have been performed were on a former military facility (not public roads).
However, the California Department of Motor Vehicle did tell Tech Insider earlier this year that it had met with Apple to discuss rules for testing autonomous vehicles on public roads.
The Wall Street Journal also reported earlier this year that Apple is gearing up to ship its first electric car in 2019, but that it would not be self-driving.
Given that media coverage is a category for assessing Juniper’s ranking, Apple coming in as a top leader does make some sense. But we’ll have to wait until the company reveals more about its driverless car plans to know how it will actually stack up against its competitors.
4. Tesla
Tesla is pushing to gets its driverless cars to market first and has already made some impressive progress.
The company rolled out its semi-autonomous Autopilot system in October, which gives Tesla cars driverless capabilities like highway autosteer, automatic lane change, and self-parking.
Elon Musk also said earlier this year that he plans to have fully autonomous vehicles out in three years. That’s earlier than most companies, who are currently running on a 2020 timeline.
Most recently, Musk said via Twitter that he was ramping up Tesla’s Autopilot efforts and was looking to hire “hardcore software engineers.”
3. Daimler
Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, ranks third on the list and has made a lot of progress developing the technology.
Mercedes-Benz big-rig recently made history by driving itself on a public road (pictured above).
Thomas Weber, Daimler head of development, told Reuters in 2013 that the company wanted “to be the first to launch autonomous functions in production vehicles.”
“You can be sure we will accomplish that in this decade,” he added, showing Daimler as a serious contender.
2. Volvo
Volvo is a legitimate player in the driverless cars industry and is aggressively pushing forward its self-driving car efforts.
Juniper Research notes that Volvo’s DriveMe project is responsible for an autonomous bus system that will launch in Sweden in Spring 2016. That same project will also allow consumers to test autonomous cars in 2017.
In October, Volvo’s president and chief executive Håkan Samuelsson said that if the US federal government would implement regulations governing autonomous cars, it would accept full liability if a Volvo is ever in an accident while in autonomous mode.
1. Google
Google deserves a number one ranking — the company has been testing driverless cars longer than any other company.
The cars collect data whenever they go for a spin that is then shared with other cars in the Google fleet, meaning Google’s self-driving car software has gained 90 years worth of collective driving experience.
“[Google’s] investment in the technology is unparalleled and is most likely to succeed as the first to create a vehicle that is truly autonomous,” Juniper Research wrote in its white paper.