Autolane is building “air traffic control” for self-driving cars

The rapid adoption of robotaxis by companies like Waymo and Zoox has industry players once again dreaming about how self-driving cars will change our daily lives. This includes driverless taxi rides, of course, but also brainier ideas like sending self-driving cars to pick up groceries or pick up dry cleaning.

If that ultimately happens, navigating handoff moments, such as where exactly a vehicle should stop to pick up groceries, will be a key piece of the puzzle. Palo Alto-based Autolane is looking to build out its infrastructure layer and has now raised $7.4 million in new funding to accomplish that goal.

Autolane, which is backed by venture capital firms including Draper Associates and Hyperplane, said it will start by coordinating pick-up and drop-off locations for companies that want to bring robotaxis to private property. The company has signed an agreement with Simon Property Group to coordinate the arrival and departure of driverless vehicles at shopping centers owned by the real estate company in Austin, Texas and San Francisco, California.

The deal includes the creation of simple physical infrastructure and software, like signage (think of the various types of Uber and Lyft pick-up posts that adorn modern hotels and airports).

“We believe we are one of the first ‘application layer’ companies with autonomy,” Autolane co-founder and CEO Ben Seidl told TechCrunch in an exclusive interview. “We’re not a basic model. We’re not building cars. We’re not doing anything like that. What we’re saying is that because this industry is expanding rapidly and experiencing exponential growth, which is already happening this year and will continue to do so for the next 10 years in a row, we need someone to sit in the middle and coordinate, adjust, and evaluate what’s going on.”

While Autolane started with robotaxis in mind, Seidl is clearly focused on the bigger idea of ​​applying his technology to all kinds of tasks that self-driving cars might be able to perform in the future. And he wants to move quickly on his partnership with Autolane. That’s because, in his view, the startup currently has no “direct competitors.” He expects that to change soon.

Seidl said he knew there was a business here after buying a Tesla last year and using the company’s fully self-driving (supervised) driver assistance software for the first time.

“I was driving almost perfectly around town in my personal car when my head felt like it was going to explode,” he said. “I was most fascinated by the idea that this would change how we price logistics, retail, real estate, where we work, live, play, how we move, goods and services, and the movement of people.”

Seidl cited a virus incident earlier this year in which a Waymo robotaxi became stuck at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru in Santa Monica, Calif., as an example of the problem AutoLane is trying to avoid. In this case, the robotaxi had trouble negotiating the fast food company’s notorious drive-through lanes after dropping off passengers. Seidl said using Autolane software and specifying exact pick-up and drop-off locations can avoid problems like this in the future.

“Someone has to bring order to this chaos, and the chaos has already begun,” he said.

Companies should be able to do some of this work themselves, at least on the physical infrastructure side. Making a sign is not that difficult.

“Anyone can do it,” Seidl said. “But that’s not the case with autonomy. Robotics requires precise instructions, precise geolocation, and technical communication. You can’t just put up a white sign with black text and hope for the best when there are 10 different types of robotics coming out.”

Rather, Seidl said AutoLane’s value lies in how it integrates with real estate companies and self-driving vehicle providers. So the plan is to essentially build an API for physical locations and allow self-driving car companies to receive these precise instructions. Companies need to “integrate directly with each of the robotics companies and the car companies so that they follow the rules,” he said.

Seidl also made it clear that he does not want to work with cities or local governments.

“We’re not working on public streets. We’re not working in public parking lots. We’re just offering these tools as a kind of B2B, hardware-enabled SAS solution, so it’s available to Costco, McDonald’s, Home Depot, or in our case Simon Property Group, the world’s largest retail REIT.” [real estate investment trust] We can start to realize what I like to call “air traffic control for self-driving vehicles.” “This means we know which vehicles are arriving and which vehicles are leaving,” he said.