The past few years have been an interesting time for the intersection of cars, robotics, and AI. It seems every company that built its brand on any of the three has been trying to develop that perfect merger—an autonomous, self-controlled car. Yet here we are, in 2023, without a single competent entrant on the market. Now, even the money is drying up, leaving only the diehards left.

Jalop alum Patrick George, over at The Verge, looked into the current state of AVs. He found that investment in the autonomous car sector had dropped nearly 60 percent in 2022, and that more and more companies were backtracking on self-driving efforts. Investors are balking, money is drying up, the world of autonomy looks dire.

But it doesn’t look dead. Toyota is still pushing onwards, working with Nvidia to back an Israeli firm that’s developing new autonomous and driver-assist systems.