Why Caterpillar and GE Are Investing in This Self-Driving Vehicle Company

Self-driving vehicles that can seamlessly shuttle people around cities are years away--perhaps even decades, depending on who is providing the forecast. But the founders of Clearpath Robotics aren't worried. They already have fleets of self-driving vehicles operating on roads with traffic, intersections, and pedestrians. But instead of shuttling people through city streets, the startup's self-driving vehicles navigate goods through the miles of roads inside massive industrial factories, including at Caterpillar cat and GE ge . "Unlike city streets, a factory floor is a controlled environment, which makes it an ideal place to introduce self-driving vehicles at scale," said Clearpath CEO and co-founder Matt Rendall.