Tekcapital PLC (LON:TEK) has licensed a patent developed by the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University that could be the backbone of software for autonomously controlling cars, trucks and drones using artificial intelligence. The company, which is wrapping the intellectual property into its Guident business, says the technology may one day be used to develop an app that will dispatch vehicles to find a parking spots and then retrieve them again. Ford chief executive Jim Hackett spoke recently of solving that exact problem. "You waste more time trying to find a parking place than you do being stuck in traffic," he said. "That's because you're trying to match the open parking place with where the car needs to go. We have a dream where they can actually tell each other that. The car and the parking spot are talking to each other. The autonomous vehicles market is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of almost 40% in the next 10 years and is expected to be worth US$127bn by 2027. No financial details of the Tekcapital patent deal were given. The company's chairman, Clifford Gross, said; "We are excited that Guident has acquired the exclusive rights to this novel IP aimed at improving the utility of autonomous vehicles.

An Oxford University spin-off has developed the technology to control automated cars, but it doesn't make hardware, rather providing the "brains" of the vehicle. Oxbotica's "brain" – called Selenium – can recognise its location and surroundings and, crucially, it can be applied to anything that moves – not just cars. The company's co-founder, Paul Newman, explained the technology could be used in anything from space ships to fork lift trucks in warehouses. It's because the company has invested so much into the research behind the technology that it's become such an innovative solution. "We never called ourselves a driverless car group," Posner told the FT. That has applications in all places."