One of the better known autonomous vehicle startups, Drive.ai, has been looking for a buyer. The firm hired investment bank Jefferies as an adviser and in recent weeks told bigger rivals it is interested in selling, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter and another briefed on the situation.
Drive.ai is testing automated shuttles that operate like buses, taking passengers along specific routes. Part of its pitch to potential buyers is that it is one of the few such services currently available to the public. The company was valued at roughly $200 million in 2017. Its move to sell itself shows how the self-driving car startup world is shaking out as optimism about how long it will take to commercialize the technology fades.
