55 Top Alternative Autonomous Vehicles Startups in [2023]

Have you ever wondered who is on the list of Autonomous Vehicles Companies with the highest growth rates?

You’re not alone.

There are hundreds of Autonomous Vehicles Companies found there, and keeping track of the hottest new startups can be challenging.

But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here are the top 55 fast-growing Autonomous Vehicles Startups that have top-tier venture capital funding.

What are Autonomous Vehicles Startups?

Autonomous vehicles startups are companies that are developing autonomous vehicle technology, such as self-driving cars, trucks, and other vehicles. 

These startups are pioneering the future of transportation and are leveraging advanced artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision to make vehicles safer, smarter, and more efficient. Examples of autonomous vehicle startups include Aurora, Waymo, Cruise, and Argo AI.

Top 55 Fastest-Growing Startups In Autonomous Vehicles

1) Cruise

Cruise creates self-driving vehicles that link people to the places, things, and experiences they care about in a safe and secure manner.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: San Francisco
• Started in: 2013
• Founders: Daniel Kan, Jeremy Guillory, Kyle Vogt
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Funding amount: $13,018,800,000
• Number of funding rounds: 11
• Number of investors: 45

You can find their website here.

‍2) Lucid Motors

Lucid Motors is an automobile manufacturer that focuses on electric vehicles.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Newark
• Started in: 2007
• Founders: Andrew Burns, Sam Weng
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Funding amount: $1,330,999,992
• Number of funding rounds: 5
• Number of investors: 5

You can find their website here.

3) DeepMap

DeepMap is advancing safe autonomy by offering the greatest autonomous mapping and localization solutions in the world.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Palo Alto
• Started in: 2016
• Founders: James Wu, Mark Wheeler
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $92,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 4
• Number of investors: 8

You can find their website here.

4) Ridecell

For automobile rental firms, Ridecell provides car-sharing, ride-sharing, short-term leases, and autonomous vehicle fleet services.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: San Francisco
• Started in: 2009
• Founders: Aarjav Trivedi, ArunKumar Elangovan, Steve Dickerson
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $134,754,653
• Number of funding rounds: 9
• Number of investors: 29

You can find their website here.

5) Kodiak Robotics

Kodiak Robotics is a long-haul transportation company that develops autonomous technologies.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Mountain View
• Started in: 2018
• Founders: Don Burnette, Paz Eshel
• Number of employees: 51-100
• Funding amount: $40,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 3
• Number of investors: 6

You can find their website here.

6) Affectiva

Affectiva is a company that makes software that recognizes emotions by analyzing minor facial and speech cues.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Boston
• Started in: 2009
• Founders: Rana el Kaliouby, Rosalind Picard
• Number of employees: 51-100
• Funding amount: $62,550,000
• Number of funding rounds: 7
• Number of investors: 17

You can find their website here.

7) Einride

Einride is a transportation technology firm that designs and develops electric and autonomous freight vehicles.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Sweden
• City: Stockholm
• Started in: 2016
• Founders: Filip Lilja, Linnea Kornehed, Robert Falck
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $152,343,070
• Number of funding rounds: 8
• Number of investors: 15

You can find their website here.

8) Argo AI

Argo AI is a business that develops self-driving technology platforms.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Pittsburgh
• Started in: 2016
• Founders: Bryan Salesky, Peter Rander
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Funding amount: $3,600,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 2
• Number of investors: 2

You can find their website here.

9) Zoox

Zoox is a self-driving car and mobility-as-a-service firm powered by artificial intelligence.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Foster City
• Started in: 2014
• Founders: Jesse Levinson, Tim Kentley Klay
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Funding amount: $1,005,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 6
• Number of investors: 13

You can find their website here.

10) Waymo

Waymo develops self-driving technology created in Google’s labs to enhance transportation.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Mountain View
• Started in: 2009
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Funding amount: $5,500,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 3
• Number of investors: 13

You can find their website here.

11) Horizon Robotics

Horizon Robotics is a smart mobility company that focuses on artificial intelligence computing.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Haidian
• Started in: 2015
• Founders: Annie Tao, Chang Huang, Kai Yu, Ming Yang
• Number of employees: 251-500
• Funding amount: $1,600,300,002
• Number of funding rounds: 8
• Number of investors: 42

You can find their website here.

12) Hesai Technology

Hesai Technology is a laser sensor creator and manufacturer for robotics and self-driving cars.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Shanghai
• Started in: 2014
• Founders: Kai Sun, Shaoqing Xiang, Yifan Li
• Number of employees: 501-1000
• Funding amount: $531,151,155
• Number of funding rounds: 8
• Number of investors: 17

You can find their website here.

13) WeRide

WeRide is a firm that develops autonomous car technologies all over the world.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Guangzhou
• Started in: 2017
• Founders: Qing Lu, Tony Han, Yan Li
• Number of employees: 251-500
• Funding amount: $620,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 6
• Number of investors: 24

You can find their website here.

14) AEye

For automotive autonomy, advanced driver assistance systems, and robotic vision applications, AEye develops AI-powered LiDAR systems.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Dublin
• Started in: 2013
• Founders: Barry Behnken, Jordan Greene, Luis Dussan, Ransom Wuller
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $89,146,590
• Number of funding rounds: 7
• Number of investors: 11

You can find their website here.

15) Aurora

Aurora is bringing the benefits of self-driving technology to a wider audience in a safe, timely, and cost-effective manner.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Mountain View
• Started in: 2017
• Founders: Chris Urmson, J. Andrew Bagnell, Sterling Anderson
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Funding amount: $1,090,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 5
• Number of investors: 15

You can find their website here.

16) Gideon Brothers

Gideon Brothers uses AI and Visual Perception to address industrial challenges with autonomous mobility robots.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Croatia
• City: Zagreb
• Started in: 2017
• Founders: Edin Kočo, Josip Ćesić, Kruno Stražanac, Matija Kopić, Milan Račić
• Number of employees: 51-100
• Funding amount: $36,527,751
• Number of funding rounds: 4
• Number of investors: 17

You can find their website here.

17) May Mobility

May Mobility is using autonomous technology to improve cities and make the world a safer, greener, and more accessible place.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Ann Arbor
• Started in: 2017
• Founders: Alisyn Malek, Edwin Olson, Steve Vozar
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $83,620,000
• Number of funding rounds: 6
• Number of investors: 15

You can find their website here.

18) Tritium

Tritium provides energy independence through scalable and adaptable technology solutions.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Australia
• City: Brisbane
• Started in: 2001
• Founders: David Finn
• Number of employees: 251-500
• Funding amount: $93,974,879
• Number of funding rounds: 3
• Number of investors: 3

You can find their website here.

19) Superpedestrian

Superpedestrian is a venture-backed startup that creates light-weight electric cars with built-in online platforms.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Cambridge-US
• Started in: 2012
• Founders: Assaf Biderman
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Funding amount: $136,700,000
• Number of funding rounds: 7
• Number of investors: 18

You can find their website here.

20) EasyMile

EasyMile is a high-tech startup that specializes in both autonomous car software and smart mobility solutions.

Details of the startup:

• Country: France
• City: Toulouse
• Started in: 2014
• Founders: Gilbert Gagnaire, Philippe Ligier
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: € 77,118,623
• Number of funding rounds: 4
• Number of investors: 7

You can find their website here.

21) PrecisionHawk

Precision Hawk creates and combines commercial drone technology that revolutionizes the collecting and analysis of aerial data.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Raleigh
• Started in: 2010
• Founders: Christopher Dean, Ernest Earon
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $136,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 7
• Number of investors: 16

You can find their website here.

22) Optimus Ride

Optimus Ride is a self-driving car firm that offers communities safe, dependable, convenient, and long-term mobility.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Boston
• Started in: 2015
• Founders: Albert Huang, Jenny Larios Berlin, Ramiro Almeida, Ryan Chin, Sertac Karaman
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $75,981,997
• Number of funding rounds: 7
• Number of investors: 22

You can find their website here.

23) Anduril Industries

Anduril Industries is a defense equipment manufacturer that creates technology for military and border surveillance organizations.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Irvine
• Started in: 2017
• Founders: Brian Schimpf, Joseph Chen, Matt Grimm, Palmer Luckey, Trae Stephens
• Number of employees: 251-500
• Funding amount: $691,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 5
• Number of investors: 17

You can find their website here.

24) Locomation

Locomation creates safe and dependable self-driving transport solutions.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Pittsburgh
• Started in: 2016
• Founders: Alonzo Kelly, Cetin Mericli, Michael George, Tekin Mericli, Venkat Rajagopalan
• Number of employees: 1-10
• Funding amount: $11,480,847
• Number of funding rounds: 6
• Number of investors: 16

You can find their website here.

25) AirMap

AirMap is a platform for unmanned aircraft that provides airspace services.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Santa Monica
• Started in: 2014
• Founders: Ben Marcus, Gregory McNeal
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $78,657,664
• Number of funding rounds: 7
• Number of investors: 22

You can find their website here.

26) Momenta

Momenta is a company that develops autonomous driving technologies with the goal of increasing efficiency.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Beijing
• Started in: 2016
• Founders: Gang Sun, Shaoqing Ren, Xudong Cao, Yan Xia
• Number of employees: 251-500
• Funding amount: $703,150,880
• Number of funding rounds: 10
• Number of investors: 21

You can find their website here.

27) Local Motors

Local Motors is an American automaker that designs and manufactures safe and accessible mobility solutions for small towns.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Chandler
• Started in: 2007
• Founders: Damien Declercq, John B. Rogers, Mark Smith
• Number of employees: 251-500
• Funding amount: $15,250,000
• Number of funding rounds: 5
• Number of investors: 5

You can find their website here.

28) Outrider

Yard operations for logistics hubs that are self-contained

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Golden
• Started in: 2017
• Founders: Andrew Smith
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $118,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 2
• Number of investors: 10

You can find their website here.

29) Wheels

Wheels is a public shared electric mobility platform that offers transportation to the general public.

Details of the startup:

• Country: United States
• City: Los Angeles
• Started in: 2018
• Founders: Chris Stavlas, Jonathan Viner, Joshua Viner
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Funding amount: $96,297,422
• Number of funding rounds: 6
• Number of investors: 10

You can find their website here.

30) WM Motor

WM Motor is an automaker that creates, manufactures, develops, and sells electric vehicles that run on batteries.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Shanghai
• Started in: 2015
• Founders: Bin Lu, Hui Shen, Ligang Du
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Funding amount: $4,859,399,622
• Number of funding rounds: 6
• Number of investors: 24

You can find their website here.

31) Heex Technologies

Software services backed by Smart Data are unlocking the promise of autonomous systems.

Details of the startup:

• Country: France
• City: Paris
• Started in: 2019
• Founders: Arnaud de La Fortelle, Bruno Mendes Da Silva, Etienne Boutan
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Funding amount: $1,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 1
• Number of investors: 9

You can find their website here.

32) BYTON

BYTON is an electric vehicle manufacturer that creates vehicles that are completely connected smart devices on wheels.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Nanjing
• Started in: 2016
• Founders: Carsten Breitfeld, Daniel Kirchert
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Funding amount: $1,200,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 5
• Number of investors: 9

You can find their website here.

33) Euler Motors

Euler Motors is a full-stack electric vehicle manufacturer focused on business mobility and last-mile logistics.

Details of the startup:

• Country: India
• City: New Delhi
• Started in: 2018
• Founders: Saurav Kumar
• Number of employees: 51-100
• Funding amount: $18,151,445
• Number of funding rounds: 4
• Number of investors: 8

You can find their website here.

34) Baraja

Baraja is a manufacturer of 3D machine vision systems.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Australia
• City: Sydney
• Started in: 2015
• Founders: Cibby Pulikkaseril, Federico Collarte
• Number of employees: 51-100
• Funding amount: $63,919,206
• Number of funding rounds: 3
• Number of investors: 8

You can find their website here.

35) TTTech

TTTech is a technology pioneer in networked safety controls situated in Vienna, Austria.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Austria
• City: Vienna
• Started in: 1998
• Founders: Georg Kopetz, Stefan Poledna
• Number of employees: 1001-5000
• Funding amount: € 169,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 5
• Number of investors: 8

You can find their website here.

‍36) Youibot

Youibot is dedicated to offering professional autonomous inspection mobile robots in order to achieve intelligent safety.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Shenzhen
• Started in: 2017
• Founders: Zhao Wanqiu
• Number of employees: 1-10
• Funding amount: $15,469,818
• Number of funding rounds: 5
• Number of investors: 5

You can find their website here.

37) Playment

Playment is a cloud-based data labeling tool that generates large amounts of training data for computer vision models.

Details of the startup:

• Country: India
• City: Bengaluru
• Started in: 2015
• Founders: Ajinkya Malasane, Akshay Lal, Siddharth Mall
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Funding amount: $2,470,000
• Number of funding rounds: 4
• Number of investors: 6

You can find their website here.

38) Scantinel Photonics

Scantinel Photonics is a high-tech start-up that is working on next-generation LiDAR technology for self-driving cars.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Germany
• City: Ulm
• Started in: 2019
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Funding amount: € 7,500,000
• Number of funding rounds: 1
• Number of investors: 1

You can find their website here.

39) Brisa Robotica

Solutions for robotics, autonomous systems, and machine intelligence

Details of the startup:

• Country: Brazil
• City: Recife
• Started in: 2018
• Founders: David Bensoussan, Thiago de Freitas
• Number of employees: 1-10
• Funding amount: R$1,440,000
• Number of funding rounds: 2
• Number of investors: 3

You can find their website here.

40) DiDi Autonomous Driving

Level 4 autonomous driving (“AD”) technologies are available from DiDi Autonomous Driving, with the goal of making transportation safer and more efficient.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Beijing
• Started in: 2016
• Founders: Bo Zhang, Xing Meng
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $800,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 2
• Number of investors: 6

You can find their website here.

41) Teraki

Teraki enables access to more qualitative data, allowing insurance, maintenance, and autonomous driving applications to scale.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Germany
• City: Berlin
• Started in: 2014
• Founders: Daniel Richart, Markus Kopf
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Funding amount: $16,096,420
• Number of funding rounds: 9
• Number of investors: 18

You can find their website here.

42) Sensible 4

Sensible4 is a self-driving vehicle software firm that builds self-driving automobiles that can be used all year.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Finland
• City: Espoo
• Started in: 2017
• Founders: Harri Santamala, Jari Saarinen, Jussi Suomela, Tommi Rimpiläinen
• Number of employees: 51-100
• Funding amount: $7,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 1
• Number of investors: 2

You can find their website here.

43) Zongmu

Zongmu Technology is a self-driving technology company based in China.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Shanghai
• Started in: 2013
• Founders: Rui Tang
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Funding amount: $29,054,134
• Number of funding rounds: 3
• Number of investors: 5

You can find their website here.

44) Ascent Robotics

Ascent Robotics is an AI business that creates intelligent industrial robotics and autonomous car solutions.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Japan
• City: Tokyo
• Started in: 2016
• Founders: Fred Almeida, Masayuki Ishizaki
• Number of employees: 51-100
• Funding amount: $11,131,199
• Number of funding rounds: 2
• Number of investors: 2

You can find their website here.

45) PROTON Holdings

PROTON Holdings is a company that designs, builds, and sells automobiles.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Indonesia
• City: Subang
• Started in: 1983
• Founders: Mahathir Mohamad
• Number of employees: 10001+
• Funding amount: CN¥460,300,000
• Number of funding rounds: 1
• Number of investors: 1

You can find their website here.

46) ZMP

ZMP is a robotics and accessories company that makes cars and buses.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Japan
• City: Tokyo
• Started in: 2001
• Founders: Hisashi Taniguchi, Toru Ichihashi
• Number of employees: 51-100
• Funding amount: ¥2,516,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 7
• Number of investors: 21

You can find their website here.

47) Quicktron Robotics

Quicktron Robotics is a manufacturer of industrial automation hardware, control software, and robotic systems.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Yanghe
• Started in: 2014
• Founders: Di Sun, Dong Li, Yadong Shen, Zhang Clint
• Number of employees: 251-500
• Funding amount: $129,058,153
• Number of funding rounds: 2
• Number of investors: 8

You can find their website here.

48) CalmCar Vision System

CalmCar is a deep learning-based embedded system that can recognize and localize complicated road data.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Suzhou
• Started in: 2016
• Founders: Xi Wang
• Number of employees: 1-10
• Funding amount: $18,712,334
• Number of funding rounds: 3
• Number of investors: 3

You can find their website here.

49) Dronehub

Inspection and delivery using automated industrial drones, all-terrain hubs, and AI-powered software.

Details of the startup:

• Country: Poland
• City: Warsaw
• Started in: 2015
• Founders: Vadym Melnyk, Vadym Melnyk
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Funding amount: PLN2,200,000
• Number of funding rounds: 1

You can find their website here.

50) Seoul Robotics

Building powerful Lidar perception software for self-driving automobiles and robots – Making robots intelligent

Details of the startup:

• Country: South Korea
• City: Seoul
• Started in: 2017
• Founders: Han Bin Lee
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Funding amount: $6,100,000
• Number of funding rounds: 3
• Number of investors: 7

You can find their website here.

51) UISEE

UISEE offers cutting-edge autonomous driving products as well as transformational mobility-on-demand services.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Haidian
• Started in: 2016
• Founders: Gansha Wu, Yan Jiang
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $154,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 4
• Number of investors: 10

You can find their website here.

52) HiRain Technologies

HiRain Technologies specializes in automotive electronics, project consulting and engineering, development tools, and training.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Beijing
• Started in: 1998
• Number of employees: 11-50
• Funding amount: CN¥210,000,000
• Number of funding rounds: 1
• Number of investors: 1

You can find their website here.

53) Hong Jing Drive

Hong Jing Drive develops a computing platform for self-driving cars.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Hangzhou
• Started in: 2018
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $8,892,386
• Number of funding rounds: 3
• Number of investors: 11

You can find their website here.

54) LandSpace

LandSpace is a Chinese rocket firm that develops and operates rockets.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Beijing
• Started in: 2016
• Founders: Changwu Zhang
• Number of employees: 101-250
• Funding amount: $336,123,000
• Number of funding rounds: 5
• Number of investors: 16

You can find their website here.

55) Yihang.ai

Yihang.ai is a company that creates self-driving cars.

Details of the startup:

• Country: China
• City: Changchun
• Started in: 2015
• Founders: Yuxing Chen
• Number of employees: 1-10
• Funding amount: $47,152,006
• Number of funding rounds: 4
• Number of investors: 8

You can find their website here.

FAQs

Is Autonomous Vehicles Business Profitable?

The profitability of autonomous vehicles businesses is largely dependent on the market they are operating in, the technology they are using, and the specific products or services they are offering.

 Some autonomous vehicle businesses may find success in the consumer or business-to-business sectors, providing ride-sharing services, delivery services, or other transportation-related services. Others may focus on the development of autonomous vehicle technology and the sale of related products or services. 

Autonomous vehicle businesses may also find success in the automotive industry, providing software or hardware solutions to automakers and other industry partners. It is difficult to predict the future profitability of autonomous vehicle businesses as the industry is constantly evolving.

What Is The Average Investment In Autonomous Vehicles?

The average investment in autonomous vehicles is difficult to quantify because the technology is still in its early stages, and investments can range from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. 

In 2020, the global autonomous vehicle market was estimated to be worth an estimated $54.23 billion and is expected to reach $556.67 billion by 2026.