Major players in the development of Autonomous Vehicles:
Apple – A huge question mark here, as Apple has hired hundreds of engineers and designers from the field of vehicle engineering, including quite a few ex-employees of Tesla. All under extreme secrecy, as is common for Apple’s development teams. It seems clear that Apple is going to build or at least design & sell some sort of electric vehicle, probably an autonomous vehicle. Rumors abound over exactly what an Apple car might look like or do, but some sort of vehicle is clearly in the works at the Cupertino company.
BMW – This European automaker is well known for high-end passenger cars, and has already implemented a number of driver assist technologies in some of its most exclusive cars. Rumors have been flying that BMW might eventually partner with one of the “tech” companies involved in autonomous vehicle research, such as Google.
Faraday Future – A Chinese startup that previewed and exotic-looking electric prototype car at the Las Vegas CES2016 show. Few details are known about the company, other than its plan to build an electric autonomous passenger car.
GM (General Motors) – This traditional American automaker has experimented with autonomous technology, and recently announced that it will make 100 test cars for Google’s autonomous vehicle division. There has been no announcement of the exact degree of technology sharing involved in this deal.
Google – Now part of the conglomerate Alphabet, Google’s autonomous car division has been testing small passenger vehicles for several years. The company has said that it expects to have autonomous passenger vehicles on the road around 2020.
Renault-Nissan – This automaker venture has confirmed plans to introduce multiple versions of fully self-driving passenger cars by the end of 2020. Announced plans for the next two years include advance highway driver assistance, including lane holding/changing to ease the driver’s job.
Otto – Formed in 2016 by a group of (mostly) Google ex-engineers, this company is focusing on long haul trucking. Their announced vision is to provide autonomous driving technology for the open road portion of freight hauling, leaving in-town driving to humans for the near future.
Tesla – Highly publicized manufacturer of electric passenger vehicles. Already has some advanced driver assist features in its cars, and plans to have fully autonomous cars on the road by 2020.
Uber – Drive sharing company that envisions replacing drivers in its taxi-like business model. In the last couple of years, Uber has hired a large number of software engineers with experience in the field of autonomous vehicles.