The 3 Best Driverless Car Manufacturers of 2024

Carmakers are rushing to the front, but who's really doing it right?

By
Jeremy Laukkonen
Jeremy Laukkonen
Jeremy Laukkonen
Writer
  • Shoreline Community College
Jeremy Laukkonen is automotive and tech writer for numerous major trade publications. When not researching and testing computers, game consoles or smartphones, he stays up-to-date on the myriad complex systems that power battery electric vehicles .
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Updated on January 23, 2024
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The basic concept of autonomous cars has existed for a long time. Google's Waymo and General Motors Cruise Automation have all pushed forward so fast that legislation covering the legality of driverless cars can barely keep up.

The self-driving car industry has been struggling for several years, with more and more bowing out as they face technical difficulties. At one point, we had eight companies on this list, but we're down to three for 2024.

The Society of Automotive Engineers developed a scale from zero to five to describe the level of autonomy exhibited by any driverless car. Most of the companies in this list are testing level four and level five self-driving cars that require no driver interaction. However, most near-term plans involve level three autonomy that requires the driver to always remain vigilant.

01
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Waymo

Waymo driverless cars line up to pick up passengers.

Justin Sullivan / Staff / Getty Images
What We Like

  • More testing miles in more cities than the competition

  • Operates fully autonomous vehicles

  • Fewer accidents than competitors

What We Don't Like

  • A lot of Waymo's most important testing has happened in near-ideal driving conditions in Arizona

Waymo started as a project at Google and operated in relative obscurity and secrecy for a surprising amount of time. By the time Google went public with its self-driving car program and later spun Waymo off as a separate Alphabet Inc. subsidiary, they were already off to the races.

The main disadvantage working against Waymo is that it's essentially a tech startup with massive artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning expertise, but it isn't part of, or even backed by, an automotive manufacturer.

Waymo self-driving cars have notched more miles and had fewer accidents than any other driverless car initiative, and the company even operates a ride-sharing service in Arizona.

02
of 03

Daimler Intelligent Drive

A Daimler self-driving car in the Intelligent World Drive program is tested on a real city street in Las Vegas.

Daimler 
What We Like

  • Mercedes vehicles with the Intelligent Drive system are almost self-driving

  • Test vehicles have reached level 5 autonomy

What We Don't Like

  • Most testing has taken place in Europe and not the United States

  • Self-driving vehicle plans for the near future only include level 3 autonomy

Daimler is a front-runner in self-driving cars, but its efforts fall short of Waymo and GM Cruise. Its initiatives are also more relevant to European drivers than American drivers because most of Daimler's most advanced autonomous systems testing has occurred on European streets.

Intelligent Drive, available in some Mercedes vehicles, offers a close approximation of a self-driving experience. It's more of an advanced form of adaptive cruise control with the ability to recognize and avoid pedestrians and obstructions in the road. However, it still requires constant supervision from a human driver.

Daimler has stated that its fully self-driving cars, which meet the stringent requirements for a level 5 autonomous vehicle, will be limited to use in ride-share services.

03
of 03

GM Cruise

A GM Cruise driverless car operated in real world conditions with a safety driver present.

Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images
What We Like

  • Acquiring Cruise Automation jump started GM's driverless car program

  • Has demonstrated driverless functionality with the Super Cruise system

What We Don't Like

  • Prior to acquiring Cruise Automation, GM had fallen behind the competition.

  • More accidents than other competitors that also test in California

  • Super Cruise is geofenced to only work on approved highways

General Motors fell behind self-driving technology competitors like Waymo, but the strategic purchase of Cruise Automation allowed them to jump right back to the front of the pack.

Cruise Automation started making self-driving conversion kits for Audi vehicles, but the GM subsidiary quickly shifted focus to adapting their technology to control cars like the Chevy Bolt.

In addition to its efforts to bring true driverless cars to the market, GM also offers a self-driving system called Super Cruise. This system only works on highways and relies on extensive mapping work done by GM.

Super Cruise can operate a vehicle autonomously on any supported highway, but it returns complete control to the driver if the car enters an area that GM hasn't mapped.

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