Self-Driving Investment Crash: 58% Drop In Autonomous Vehicle Dollars
John Koestier
![[Image: 960x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960]](https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/64405fdca103c3512e1e5605/robotics-investment/960x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960)
John Koestier
Quote:The self-driving vehicle has crashed. Not the car itself, although that happens, but certainly the investment craze that enveloped the venture capital world over the past few years. In 2021, investors poured a record $9.7 billion into autonomous vehicle development. Last year however, that dropped by almost 60% to just $4.1 billion. Overall investment in robotics, which have totaled $90 billion globally over the past five years, is also down, hitting $12 billion in total last year versus $18 billion in a much more optimistic 2021.
The big winner recently: vertical robotics that are purpose-built for specific industries such as warehousing, shipping, health, defense, manufacturing, and construction.
'Historically, we may regard materialism as a system of dogma set up to combat orthodox dogma...Accordingly we find that, as ancient orthodoxies disintegrate, materialism more and more gives way to scepticism.'
- Bertrand Russell
- Bertrand Russell