Nuro, ThorDrive, and Waymo Meet At An Intersection…

… and that’s how some of the best jokes begin. I saw my first autonomous test vehicle in 2013 on Highway 101 in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was a Lexus operated by Google as part of its Self-Driving Car Project at the time, the predecessor to Waymo.

With the increase in testing by more than 70 companies—all of which simultaneously held permits in California to operate autonomous test vehicles on California roads—the chances of capturing cars from two manufacturers in the same shot went up.

But for years, I couldn’t reach the next milestone: capturing autonomous cars from three manufacturers in a single video. But persistence paid off a few days ago. At the intersection of Shoreline and Villa Street in Mountain View, I managed to capture a Nuro-Lucid-Uber test vehicle in front of me, a Thordrive test vehicle in the opposite lane, and a Waymo robotaxi crossing the intersection all at the same time.

Next milestone on the horizon? Of course, capturing autonomous vehicles from four manufacturers simultaneously in front of the lens.

This article was also published in German.