Cavnue-An Alphabet-Backed Startup to Develop Self-Driving 'Road Of The Future'

A startup, Cavnue will build a first-of-its-kind 40-mile connected corridor in Michigan with dedicated lanes for autonomous vehicles.

FREMONT, CA: What comes first, the driverless vehicle or the driverless road? For years now, the autonomous vehicle community has been sure about the answer: It is the vehicle.

But in the mid of 2020, as the industry emerges from a sobering period defined by layoffs and consolidations, startups, investors, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) alike are starting to pay more attention to the physical, digital and regulatory infrastructure that will enable autonomous cars and trucks to move farther of the pilot phase and onto city streets and highways.

That effort got a massive boost last week with the declaration that Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) is launching its first big project — a subsidiary, Cavnue to develop infrastructure for the connected and autonomous vehicles.

"We're building the road of the future," Mike Shapiro, vice president, SIP, told FreightWaves.