Avis Partners With Google's Waymo on Self-Driving Cars

You may remember Avis and Hertz as places where you arrive in a shuttle bus, waste time in line, then hand someone a few hundred dollars in exchange for a cheap car. You know, exactly the kinds of companies slated for obsolescence in the coming shift to autonomous driving. Ah, but those old-fashioned companies know a few things about managing and maintaining fleets, skills Silicon Valley upstarts don't have--and desperately need as they roll out their self-driving cars. That explains why Avis just announced a deal to take care of Waymo's fleet of autonomous minivans in Phoenix, and Hertz will reportedly play a role in keeping Apple's robocars running. Both deals signal that, when it comes to the nascent autonomous car industry, some old things can indeed be new again. Yes, self-driving tech promises to fundamentally change how people get all around and shake up the industries that exist to help them do it.