Autonomous cars were once the hottest topic in the automotive industry, developed at vast expense by everyone from existing manufacturers to ambitious interlopers and set to revolutionise everything from personal mobility to the fundamentals of car design.
And now? Maybe not so much. While the concept is far from abandoned, the vigour with which it is being pursued is dampened. Ford and Volkswagen have dumped their joint venture, Renault describes the technology as a “moonshot” and Tesla is still a long way from putting anything on sale that lives up to its Full Self-Driving nomenclature.
