“This is going to be a journey, and a reasonably long one,” he said. It is increasingly a journey with significant financial implications. Last year, Uber announced plans to open an autonomous vehicle research center with Carnegie Mellon University. General Motors recently invested $500 million in Uber’s top competitor, Lyft, with the goal of creating an on-demand network of autonomous vehicles. And rumors continue that Google and Ford are entering into a partnership to build autonomous cars.
The White House also weighed in last week. President Obama’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year includes $4 billion to be spent over 10 years for related research. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx also said the government would remove hurdles to developing autonomous vehicles and set further guidelines for them within six months.