Late to the Driverless Revolution

But they couldn't find any takers. In meetings with a prime parts supplier to the car makers and then with the senior leadership of a major auto company, the pair gave presentations on their vehicle's capabilities, the number of miles it had driven and the broad strokes of how their self-driving software saw the road. The reaction, they say, was utter disinterest--and dismay that they were experimenting on public roads rather than on a test track. "Self-driving technology didn't make sense to them," Mr. Urmson says. "And it seemed so far out of the playbook that it wasn't even addressable."