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We’ve been hearing about the promise of self-driving cars for years, but the industry is finally edging closer to mainstream adoption.
The market will reach $158.3 billion in 2023 and could reach $2.75 trillion by 2033, as the world’s best and brightest minds focus on solving the transportation problems that plague nearly every country on Earth.
McKinsey predicts that by 2030, Level 5 technology, the highest level of technology, will enable fully autonomous vehicles to drive “anytime, anywhere.”
From robotaxi startups to software companies, read on for a list of the most innovative autonomous vehicle startups creating cutting-edge vehicle technology.
1. Oiler Motor
Five-year search growth rate: 5,300%
Search growth status: Average
Established: 2018
Location: New Delhi, India
Funding: $130.4 million (Series C)
What they do: Euler Motors is an Indian electric vehicle technology startup focused on developing and manufacturing commercial electric vehicles. The company designs, develops and manufactures electric powertrains, batteries and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
The company’s products include electric three-wheelers and vans designed for logistics and cargo transport in urban environments. In May 2024, the startup raised an additional $24 million in Series C funding.
2. Wave
Five-year search growth rate: 378%
Search growth: explosive
Established: 2017
Location: London, UK
Funding: $1.3 billion (Series C)
What they do: Wayve is a UK-based autonomous vehicle technology startup that develops software that enables self-driving cars to operate without relying on expensive and bulky sensors. The company uses deep learning and computer vision techniques to enable cars to learn to drive themselves using only camera and GPS data.
Wayve is working to build a scalable self-driving system that can be used in a wide range of vehicles and environments with the goal of making autonomous driving accessible and affordable. The startup raised a massive $1.05 billion in Series C funding in May 2024.
3. Waabi
Five-year search growth rate: 900%
Search growth status: Average
Established in: 2021
Location: Toronto, Canada
Funding: $282.6 million (Series B)
What they do: Waabi is an autonomous driving technology company with the goal of making self-driving cars safer and more accessible to everyone. Their approach is based on combining the strengths of deep learning and probabilistic reasoning to create safe and reliable autonomous vehicles.
Waabi’s team includes experts in artificial intelligence, robotics, and automotive engineering, and the company is funded by leading venture capital firms. In June 2024, Waabi raised $200 million in Series B funding to prepare for the launch of its fully autonomous trucks.
4. Ghost Autonomy
Five-year search growth rate: 600%
Search growth: peak
Established: 2017
Location: Mountain View, California
Funding: $217 million (Series E)
What they do: Ghost Autonomy is a US-based self-driving car startup focused on developing autonomous systems that can operate in harsh weather and low light conditions that are difficult for existing self-driving technologies to handle.
Ghost Autonomy’s technology leverages advanced sensors, computer vision and machine learning algorithms to make autonomous driving safer and more efficient.
5. Einride
Five-year search growth rate: 48%
Search growth status: Average
Established: 2016
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Funding: $652.3 million (debt financing)
What they do: Best known for their self-driving Einride Pods, Einride is a company that specializes in freight and trucking. With a sleek, minimalist website and clean branding, Einride is like the Tesla of the freight and shipping industry. Early customers include Michelin, Coca-Cola, Svenska, and the Port of Helsingborg.
6. WeRide
Five-year search growth rate: 12%
Search growth: explosive
Established: 2017
Location: Guangzhou, China
Funding: $1.1 billion (corporate round)
What they do: WeRide is the first company in the world to obtain driverless testing permits in both the US and China. In its first year of operations, it has carried over 60,000 passengers on over 147,000 trips in China. Passengers can request a WeRide using the Amap app, one of the most popular apps in China with over 140 million monthly users.
WeRide has secured funding from some of the world’s most respected automotive brands, including the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
7. Cortica
Five-year search growth rate: 31%
Search growth status: Average
Founded in: 2007
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Funding: $109.4 million (Series D)
What they do: Cortica has an interesting solution to the complex problem of modern driving. The company’s artificial intelligence mimics the mammalian brain, allowing vehicles to learn, identify scenarios before they happen, and react to dangerous situations.
Cortica is based in Tel Aviv but has over 100 employees around the world with backgrounds in AI research and experience in Israel’s world-renowned elite intelligence unit.
8. Mobility in May
Five-year search growth rate: 106%
Search growth status: Average
Established: 2017
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Funding: $302.6 million (Series D)
What they do: May Mobility’s target market is cities, and the company’s portfolio includes cities like Arlington, Ann Arbor, Hiroshima, Japan, Detroit and Grand Rapids as past and present clients. The company’s sleek branding highlights its eco-friendly ethos and the unmistakable green-and-white shuttles that shuttle passengers to and from work.
May’s product is nothing more than a fleet of self-driving shuttles specially designed to navigate complex urban roads. Since launching its first route in 2019, May has provided over 320,000 public transport trips around the world. Additionally, the startup has just raised $105 million in Series D funding to continue developing its self-driving transport service.
9. Neuro
Five-year search growth rate: 28%
Search growth: peak
Established: 2016
Location: Mountain View, California
Funding: $2.1 billion (Series D)
What they do: Nuro made headlines when it was announced that it had received the state’s first permit to deploy self-driving cars. The funky-looking Nuro is purely a delivery vehicle, with brands like Domino’s Pizza, Chipotle, Kroger, and Walmart using the robotic vehicles to make scheduled deliveries to neighborhoods and offices.
Here’s how it works: users order a delivery from a store of their choice, a Nuro vehicle is loaded and driven to the destination (tracking is available in the app), and the customer leaves the store to collect their order as soon as it arrives.
10. Pony AI
Five-year search growth rate: 641%
Search growth: explosive
Established: 2016
Location: Fremont, California
Funding: $1.3 billion (Series D)
What they do: Similar to Argo, Pony has founded a full-stack software development company focused on autonomous vehicles, from cars to trucks. The first to launch a robotaxi service in 2018, Pony has partnered with brands like Lexus, Hyundai, and Lincoln to pilot its unique technology. The different modules range from perception (advanced sensors) to planning and control (preparing for unusual situations like a car accident happening in front of you).
11. Sibros
Five-year search growth rate: 5,200%
Search growth status: Average
Established: 2018
Location: San Jose, California
Funding: $85.5 million (series unknown)
What they do: Sibros is a California-based startup that provides a cloud-based platform for connected vehicle fleets. The company’s platform provides unified access and control to a connected vehicle’s entire software and firmware stack, enabling automakers to securely manage over-the-air (OTA) updates and collect data from vehicles.
Sibros’ technology supports a variety of vehicle types, including electric, autonomous and shared mobility vehicles, and is designed to streamline fleet operations, reduce maintenance costs and improve vehicle safety and performance.
12. Kasai Technology
Five-year search growth rate: 195%
Search growth: explosive
Established: 2014
Location: Shanghai, China
Funding: $603.8 million (Series D)
What they do: Founded in 2014, Hesai develops LiDAR technology, which measures distance by bouncing laser light off surrounding objects. By measuring the time it takes for the light to travel, precise distances can be calculated instantly. Why is this important? The technology powers self-driving cars, advanced robotics, and smart city tech.
Hesai enjoys a close partnership with Bosch, one of the world’s most respected automotive component manufacturers.
13. Motional
Five-year search growth rate: 68%
Search growth status: Average
Established: 2020
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Funding: Undisclosed (Seed)
What they do: Motional is running the world’s first robotaxi pilot program, and unlike many of the other startups on this list, they’ve decided to focus solely on the robotaxi sector going forward.
To date, Motional has provided over 100,000 self-driving rides with a record of zero at-fault accidents and a 98% five-star rating, far higher than human-driven ride-sharing services like Lyft and Uber (where 95% of passengers give the platform a five-star rating).
14. Nexar
Five-year search growth rate: 38%
Search growth: peak
Founded in: 2015
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $149.5 million (Series D)
What they do: Nexar’s market-leading dash cams are part of the company’s master plan to create the world’s first “Safe Driving Network.” By linking their cameras to the computer components already in cars today, Nexar believes they can reduce crashes and make driving safer for everyone. The Nexar app provides a single source of information about events happening on the road.
Nexar’s U.S. coverage currently spans more than 90% of highways and 1,000 cities, covering more than 70 million miles per month.
15. Momenta
Five-year search growth rate: 14%
Search growth status: Average
Established: 2016
Location: Beijing, China
Funding: $1.2 billion (Series C)
What they do: Every year, over 1.2 million people die in road accidents worldwide. Momenta’s mission is to save 1 million lives within 10 years through its unique “brain” for autonomous vehicles that uses machine learning to continuously improve.
Conclusion
As you can see from this list, the amount of innovation happening around the world in the autonomous driving space is staggering. From Shanghai to Stockholm to Ann Arbor, Michigan, leaders in engineering, computer science, and logistics are coming together to create amazing autonomous driving products.
As regulators and cities become more comfortable with the proven idea of self-driving cars, the industry is expected to grow by about 60% annually.
These startups represent some of the most promising autonomous driving and software companies in the space, so pay attention to the roads around you: you may see these vehicles driving alongside you soon.
