The High-Stakes Race to Deliver the First Car that Drives Itself

"The race to field the first autonomous car will be a Darwinian exercise, with more than 50 major competitors reduced to a handful of winners over the next decade," according to Keith Naughton's description of the findings of a new report from AlixPartners LLP.

"Traditional automakers face a daunting task taking on tech giants such as Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc., who have deeper pockets and generate much more cash to fund the development of driverless cars," adds Naughton. "The companies are all racing to be first so they can set the standard for autonomous automobiles much like Tesla Inc. has established itself as the premier name in electric cars."

Losing the race won't necessarily be a death knell for companies, according to the report, but many companies will quickly be playing a game of catch up. Also, according to the headline and the kicker of the article, companies are going to burn upwards and tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in the attempt of being the first to deliver self-driving cars.