I don't have to open the doors of AImotive's white 2015 Prius to see that it's not your average car. This particular Prius has been christened El Capitan, the name written below the rear doors, and two small cameras are mounted on top of the car. Inside is where things really get interesting, though. The trunk holds a computer the size of a microwave, and a large monitor covers the passenger glove compartment and dashboard. The center console has three switches labeled "Allowed," "Error," and "Active."

Hungarian company AImotive is working towards developing an affordable autonomous driving system for $6000. The company has applied for permission to test the technology on the local roads near its California office, located near Google's HQ. While companies like Waymo and Uber use an expensive radar-like system called LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) in their self-driving car programs, AImotive claims to achieve the same using regular cameras combined with artificial intelligence. The company claims that this brings down the cost of converting a regular car into a driverless one to around $6,000 as opposed to $70,000-$100,000. "The whole traffic system is based on the visual system. Drivers don't have bat ears and sonars, you just look around and drive," said Laszlo Kishonti, CEO and Founder, AImotive.

The AImotive office is in a small converted house at the end of a quiet residential street in sunny Mountain View, spitting distance from Google's headquarters. Outside is a branded Toyota Prius covered in cameras, one of three autonomous cars the Hungarian company is testing in the sleepy neighbourhood. While other autonomous car projects, including those from Waymo and Uber, rely on an expensive (but very useful) radar-like system called Lidar for depth perception and obstacle detection (as well as cameras for seeing the colour of traffic lights and signs), AImotive is trying to do the same using regular cameras combined with artificial intelligence. This means the company can convert a regular car into a driverless one for a fraction of the price – around $6,000 – as opposed to $70,000-$100,000. "The whole traffic system is based on the visual system," explained founder and CEO Laszlo Kishonti. "Drivers don't have bat ears and sonars, you just look around and drive."

When Anthony Levandowski loped onto the stage to accept the Hot New Startup award at an industry awards show this month, the trucker hat perched on his head served as a cringeworthy nod to the millions of drivers his self-driving truck company is poised to leave jobless. Three weeks later, it is the pioneering engineer of self-driving car technology whose job could be in jeopardy, and the lawsuit he is named in could pose an existential threat to an increasingly vulnerable Uber. With deep pockets and a $70bn valuation, Uber has racked up a series of victories against regulators, taxi companies, and upstart competitors. But Uber will now go up against tech's undisputed heavyweight champion – Google – while it is still on the ropes after a consumer boycott campaign and allegations of a toxic work environment. A report by the New York Times that Uber misled the public by blaming a human driver for running a red light during the company's short-lived self-driving trial in San Francisco further damaged both Uber's and Levandowski's credibility.