FREMONT, California – Self-driving startups like Cruise and Pony.ai have begun testing their driverless cars in some parts of California in the past year with an additional feature: human operators. While there is no driver behind the wheel, the passenger seat is occupied by a safety operator who "has a red button that can stop the vehicle just in case anything happens," Pony.ai The operator will be removed next year when Pony.ai, whose investors include Toyota Motor Corp., plans to deploy its driverless ride-hailing vehicles in certain areas of California. Still, a remote operator will monitor vehicles and provide guidance when the vehicles run into trouble, Peng said. Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo keeps personnel wearing fluorescent yellow vests at the ready to provide roadside assistance for its automated minivans in Phoenix, according to videos and to one of its avid riders, Joel Johnson, who has witnessed this.

It is not the best of times for self-driving car startups. The past year has seen large tech companies acquire startups that were running out of cash and ride-hailing companies shutter costly self-driving car projects with no prospect of becoming production-ready anytime soon. Yet, in the midst of this downturn, Waabi, a Toronto-based self-driving car startup, has just come out of stealth with an insane amount of $83.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures, with additional participation from Uber, 8VC, Radical Ventures, OMERS Ventures, BDC, and Aurora Innovation. The company's financial backers also include Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, Peter Abbeel, and Sanja Fidler, artificial intelligence scientists with great influence in the academia and applied AI community. What makes Waabi qualified for such support?

It is not the best of times for self-driving car startups. The past year has seen large tech companies acquire startups that were running out of cash and ride-hailing companies shutter costly self-driving car projects with no prospect of becoming production-ready anytime soon. Yet, in the midst of this downturn, Waabi, a Toronto-based self-driving car startup, has just come out of stealth with an insane amount of $83.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures, with additional participation from Uber, 8VC, Radical Ventures, OMERS Ventures, BDC, and Aurora Innovation. The company's financial backers also include Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, Peter Abbeel, and Sanja Fidler, artificial intelligence scientists with great influence in the academia and applied AI community. What makes Waabi qualified for such support?

Self-driving car startup Cruise has received more than $2 billion in a new round of investment from Microsoft, General Motors, Honda, and institutional investors, according to a joint statement by Cruise, its owner GM, and Microsoft on Tuesday. The investment will bring the valuation of Cruise to $30 billion and make Microsoft an official partner. Per Tuesday's announcement: "To unlock the potential of cloud computing for self-driving vehicles, Cruise will leverage Azure, Microsoft's cloud and edge computing platform, to commercialize its unique autonomous vehicle solutions at scale. Microsoft, as Cruise's preferred cloud provider, will also tap into Cruise's deep industry expertise [emphasis mine] to enhance its customer-driven product innovation and serve transportation companies across the globe [emphasis mine] through continued investment in Azure." So, Cruise will get the much-needed funds to conduct research and (possibly discounted) access to Microsoft's cloud computing resources and move closer toward its goal of launching a purpose-built self-driving car.

Argo AI is expanding its presence in the Strip District. The self-driving car startup is taking more space in the Riverfront West building in the 3 Crossings development in the Strip. Argo moved its headquarters to the five-story building in 2018. It currently occupies floors four and five, as well as part of the first floor. The additional space will be on the third floor, which it will be sharing with Oxford Development Co., the developer behind 3 Crossings.

In this Saturday June 15, 2019 photo customers leave an Apple store on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif. Apple has bought a struggling self-driving car startup as the iPhone maker continues to explore the potential market for robotic vehicles, despite recently curtailing its work on the technology. The Cupertino, Calif., company confirmed its acquisition of Drive.ai The Cupertino, California, company confirmed its acquisition of Drive.ai A recent filing with California labor regulators disclosed that Drive.ai

Amazon is clearly interested in autonomy between its delivery drone project and Scout robots, but it's taking that commitment one step further. The tech giant has participated in a $530 million investment round for Aurora Innovation, a self-driving car startup created by luminaries like ex-Googler Chris Urmson, former Tesla Autopilot leader Sterling Anderson and Uber autonomy co-founder Drew Bagnell. While Amazon hasn't said what it hopes to gain from the investment, Aurora's technology may provide some clues. Like many similar startups, Aurora is focused on developing a driverless system rather than producing full-fledged cars. You could integrate its technology into various vehicles, and companies like Hyundai and VW have already pledged to use Aurora software in their cars by 2021.

Ford CEO Mark Fields announced a $1 billion investment in a new self-driving car tech company, Argo AI. (Photo: Ethan Miller, Getty Images) SAN FRANCISCO -- Ford Motor is betting $1 billion on the world's self-driving car future. The Detroit automaker announced Friday that it would allocate that sum over five years to a new autonomous car startup called Argo AI, which is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., and will have offices in Michigan and California. Ford's financial outlay is part of a continuing investment strategy anchored to transforming the car and truck seller into a mobility company with a hand in ride-hailing, ride-sharing and even bicycle rentals. Argo AI was cofounded a few months ago by Google car project veteran Bryan Salesky and Uber engineer Peter Rander, who met while working at Carnegie Mellon University's vaunted robotics and engineering school. "The reason for the investment is not only to drive the delivery of our own autonomous vehicle by 2021, but also to deliver value to our shareholders by creating a software platform that can be licensed to others," Ford CEO Mark Fields told USA TODAY.