Nauto raises 12 million for driverless car technology that's street-legal today

Even before the blockbuster acquisition of Cruise Automation by General Motors for more than 1 billion, venture firms were looking for big ideas in autonomous vehicles. The latest company to attract a round of funding for driverless car technology is Palo Alto-based NAUTO, co-founded in 2015 by CEO Stefan Heck and CTO Frederick Soo. Andy Rubin's hardware focused venture fund, Playground Global, led the 12 million investment in Nauto, joined by Draper Nexus. Heck explained, "Our systems today help humans drive better, safer, smarter and faster in terms of avoiding congestion and traffic. They retrofit into existing cars, and eventually will enable true autonomy in new or older vehicles."