91ÊÓƵ

Autonomous vehicle companies and suppliers have collectively spent around $75 billion developing self-driving technology, with scant sign of meaningful revenue emerging from robocar services.

SAN RAMON, Calif. — General Motors’ self-driving car company is sending out vehicles with nobody behind the wheel in San Francisco as it navigates its way toward launching a robotic taxi service that would compete against Uber and Lyft in the hometown of the leading ride-hailing services.

Amazon.com Inc. is buying autonomous vehicle startup Zoox Inc., a move that could help the company create a formidable opponent to ride-hailing and food-delivery companies.

Hundreds of driverless cars have been tested in locations across the U.S. in recent years, but standards are inconsistent and in a handful of cases there have been accidents and even a death.

Nuro Inc. has won permission to test driverless, low-speed delivery vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area, becoming the second company allowed to operate on public roads without a driver.

Do automakers investing billions in the self-driving cars of tomorrow risk repeating the same mistake they made with electric cars a decade ago?

South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Group will start mass production of self-driving cars within the next five years, said Chung Euisun, the heir to the auto giant, as he made a hefty investment in a joint venture the company established with Aptiv on Sept. 23.

Hyundai Motor Group will spend $1.6 billion to develop autonomous vehicles with Aptiv Plc, marking one of the biggest investments yet by a traditional carmaker into the burgeoning robocar industry.

Sequoia Capital-backed PlusAI Inc. is close to raising about $200 million in new funds at a valuation of more than $1 billion to bankroll its development in autonomous trucks, according to people familiar with the matter.

Loadsmart and Starsky Robotics said the companies have automatically dispatched an autonomous truck to haul freight.