State politicians and officials from the likes of California, Virginia, Texas and Nevada are doing what they can to attract the self-driving car industry, hoping to enjoy the benefits of the extra jobs and tax revenue that would come with it.
According to a New York Times report, with an estimated $20 billion being spent worldwide by automakers and other companies to develop the autonomous car industry, states are doing everything from erecting fake mini cities to facilitate testing and being easy when it comes to regulations in attempt to lure the burgeoning market.
Virginia, for example, designed 70 miles of roads, ranging from hilly to flat, in June for autonomous car testing.
"If we are able to help companies by facilitating the process for them, we're going to help bring business to the state," Myra Blanco, director of the Center for Automated Vehicle Systems at Virginia Tech University, told the New York Times.
Florida, too, built a mini suburb outside Florida Polytechnic University. Florida, Michigan, Nevada and California have passed some sort of legislation to address self-driving cars to date.
"We think the quicker we get to market, the safer we'll make the technology," Jeff Brandes, a state senator who backed Florida's self-driving car legislation, told the Times.
Automakers are reportedly asking states to go easy on them via regulations, something many are willing to do.
Earlier this year, Texas senator Rodney Ellis proposed a bill for the state to be added to the list of states with autonomous-car regulations. Word of which quickly spread to auto companies, who spoke out against the bill. One of those companies was Google, which has actively been testing its self-driving cars.
Upon learning of the backlash, Ellis eased up.
"Google said they had reservations about the bill, and that was enough for me," Ellis told the Times, adding that the bill never made it to get voted on.
By July, Google announced that its self-driving cars were being tested in Texas.
A part of this gold rush of cities vying for the autonomous car industry's attention has to do with Michigan erecting its M City, 32-acre mini city for self-driving car testing, and receiving $4 million from private companies and $1 million each from 15 more companies, including the likes of General Motors, Ford, Honda and Toyota.
Other states see this and want a piece of the money being thrown around, too.
It will be interesting to see which states, though, can lure self-driving car manufacturers first.
