We put our heads together and refined metrics on autonomous vehicle companies that have received lots of funding and are funded in the Silicon Valley ecosystem. This ranking sheds light on the hottest autonomous vehiclecompanies and allows for clear comparisons with similar funding and business models. It also applies the power laws to funding and company concentration in this space.
Top 15 Autonomous Vehicle Startups Ranking Table
We analyzed data from Crunchbase and Keywords Everywhere to uncover the top US Autonomous Vehicle companies with top investors from Silicon Valley.
| Ranking | Company | GFD Tech100 Final Score* | GFD Funding Score* | GFD Website Score* | GFD Branded Keyword Score* |
| 1 | Waymo | 84.3 | 83.8 | 54.3 | 66.7 |
| 2 | Cruise | 80.7 | 80.3 | 37.9 | 66.0 |
| 3 | Lucid Motors | 80.0 | 81.8 | 57.8 | 52.7 |
| 4 | Aurora | 76.4 | 74.3 | 47.7 | 66.7 |
| 5 | Carvana | 76.4 | 71.5 | 68.9 | 71.7 |
| 6 | Applied Intuition | 73.3 | 74.6 | 49.8 | 48.9 |
| 7 | Nuro | 72.8 | 74.2 | 44.9 | 50.8 |
| 8 | EVgo | 72.1 | 73.9 | 52.5 | 46.7 |
| 9 | Kodiak Robotics | 70.4 | 73.8 | 38.9 | 42.3 |
| 10 | Shield AI | 69.8 | 70.1 | 45.1 | 51.3 |
| 11 | CYNGN | 67.0 | 68.1 | 41.7 | 47.7 |
| 12 | Luminar | 64.4 | 64.5 | 41.5 | 47.9 |
| 13 | Zoox | 63.6 | 62.7 | 51.1 | 49.9 |
| 14 | Forterra | 63.1 | 63.9 | 37.3 | 46.1 |
| 15 | Outrider | 59.7 | 59.5 | 28.6 | 49.2 |
*GFD’s Tech100 score is a final composite score of the Funding Score, Website Score, and the Branded Keyword score.
Key Takeaways:
- The three hottest autonomous vehicle firms in August 2025 are Waymo, Lucid Motors, and Cruise due to the volume and freshness of their funding, the recent performance of their website, and the growth trends of their branded keyword.
Ranking the Top Startups by Funding Score
Funding is huge. This breakout highlights those firms that have raised the most venture capital rounds, ranked by a combination of date and volume. Note we are also including post-IPO raises as well. These are worth considering because they’re all part of the competitive system that all autonomous vehicle startups are competing in.
| Ranking | Company | Total Funding Amount | Most Recent Funding Amount | Last Funding Date | GFD Funding Score* |
| 1 | Waymo | $11.10B | $5.60B | 7/23/2024 | 82.4 |
| 2 | Lucid Motors | $12.95B | $1.10B | 4/3/2025 | 82.1 |
| 3 | Cruise | $15.97B | $850M | 6/11/2024 | 78.9 |
| 4 | Applied Intuition | $1.50B | $600M | 6/17/2025 | 76.2 |
| 5 | Volcon | $573M | $501M | 7/17/2025 | 74.4 |
| 6 | Aurora | $4.19B | $483M | 8/1/2024 | 73.8 |
| 7 | Nuro | $2.24B | $106M | 4/9/2025 | 71.4 |
| 8 | Shield AI | $1.31B | $240M | 3/6/2025 | 71.0 |
| 9 | Aeva | $469M | $50M | 7/29/2025 | 69.5 |
| 10 | Swift Navigation | $249M | $50M | 7/23/2025 | 67.0 |
*GFD’s Funding Score captures funding volume and velocity by combing total funding with recent funding amount and recency.
Key Takeaways:
- When accounting for funding volume and freshness, Waymo leads the industry as it is the autonomous vehicle firm with the highest total funding and has raised over $11B.
- Lucid Motors, Applied Intuition, and Volcon have become promising firms in the autonomous vehicles industry as all have received over $500M in funds within the past 6 months.
- All but one of our top ten autonomous vehicle firms have received large funding amounts in 2025, indicating that the industry is being heavily invested in.
1. Waymo
GFD Funding Score*: 82.4
Total Funding Amount: $11.10B
Most Recent Funding Amount: $5.60B
Days Since Last Funding: 400
Out of our 39 ranked Autonomous vehicles companies, Waymo ranks #1 in funding. The company’s total funding is $11.10B and the last time they were funded was on July 23, 2024 for $5.60B. The last funding type was Series C. The total amount of investors that Waymo has is 13 and their top investors are: Andreessen Horowitz, Temasek Holdings, Silver Lake, Alphabet, Fidelity.
2. Lucid Motors
GFD Funding Score*: 82.1
Total Funding Amount: $12.95B
Most Recent Funding Amount: $1.10B
Days Since Last Funding: 146
Out of our 39 ranked Autonomous vehicles companies, Lucid Motors ranks #2 in funding. The company’s total funding is $12.95B and the last time they were funded was on April 3, 2025 for $1.10B. The last funding type was Post-IPO Debt. The total amount of investors that Lucid Motors has is 15 and their top investors are: Franklin Templeton, BlackRock, Wellington Management, Samsung Electronics, Venrock.
3. Cruise
GFD Funding Score*: 78.9
Total Funding Amount: $15.97B
Most Recent Funding Amount: $850M
Days Since Last Funding: 442
Out of our 39 ranked Autonomous vehicles companies, Cruise ranks #3 in funding. The company’s total funding is $15.97B and the last time they were funded was on June 11, 2024 for $850M. The last funding type was Corporate Round. The total amount of investors that Cruise has is 46 and their top investors are: Y Combinator, Founder Collective, SV Angel, Microsoft, Felicis.
GFD Website Score Breakdown
Website traffic and traffic growth is important but doesn’t always line up perfectly with other attributes and events like funding. We were curious as to which of these companies saw the strongest website traffic and growth. The website score we captures the volume of recent website visits and combines it with the companies’ website growth trends.
| Ranking | Company | Last Month Total Visits | Average Visits (6 Months) | Monthly Visit Growth | GFD Website Score* |
| 1 | Lucid Motors | 1.4M | 1.4M | 49.20% | 60.9 |
| 2 | Waymo | 514K | 484K | -10.32% | 55.9 |
| 3 | Zoox | 235K | 171K | 27.86% | 53.6 |
| 4 | Aurora | 105K | 110K | 18.77% | 51.2 |
| 5 | Shield AI | 85K | 57K | 81.39% | 50.7 |
| 6 | Nuro | 92K | 56K | 57.79% | 50.5 |
| 7 | AEye | 51K | 15K | 458.33% | 50.2 |
| 8 | Nexar | 93K | 141K | -34.33% | 49.9 |
| 9 | Luminar | 29K | 29K | 192.36% | 48.7 |
| 10 | Pony.ai | 51K | 47K | 3.27% | 48.0 |
*GFD’s Website Score captures the volume of recent website visits and combines it with the companies’ website growth trends.
Key Takeaways:
- Lucid Motors is the industry leader in terms of website visits as it has on average over 1.4M visitors in the last six months.
- From July to August of 2025, two autonomous vehicle companies that have seen extreme growth are AEye and Luminar.
1. Lucid Motors
GFD Website Score*: 60.9
Last Month’s Total Visits: 1.4M
Monthly Average Visits Over 6 Months: 1.4M
Monthly Visit Growth: 49.2%
Out of our 39 ranked Autonomous Vehicles companies, Lucid Motors ranks #2 in website traffic. Last month, the website saw 1.4M total visits and increased by 49.2% from the month before that. The average visits over the past 6 months were 1.4M.
2. Waymo
GFD Website Score*: 55.9
Last Month’s Total Visits: 514K
Monthly Average Visits Over 6 Months: 484K
Monthly Visit Growth: -10.32%
Out of our 39 ranked Autonomous Vehicles companies, Waymo ranks #3 in website traffic. Last month, the website saw 514K total visits and decreased by -10.32% from the month before that. The average visits over the past 6 months were 484K.
3. Zoox
GFD Website Score*: 53.6
Last Month’s Total Visits: 235K
Monthly Average Visits Over 6 Months: 171K
Monthly Visit Growth: 27.86%
Out of our 39 ranked Autonomous Vehicles companies, Zoox ranks #3 in website traffic. Last month, the website saw 235K total visits and increased by 27.86% from the month before that. The average visits over the past 6 months were 171K.
Autonomous Vehicle Startups with Strongest Branded Search Growth
A great way to measure brand growth is by analyzing keyword growth for the company across a period of time. We sourced Google Search keyword data for companies on the list and ranked by a score that accounted for total keyword search as well as search volume change over the last year.
| Ranking | Company | Total Keyword Search Volume | Average Weekly Search Volume Change (1 Year) | 1 Year Trend Positive or Negative? | GFD Company Keyword Ranking* |
| 1 | Waymo | 450K | 2131.16 | + | 65.1 |
| 2 | Recogni | 246K | 342.66 | + | 59.7 |
| 3 | Lucid Motors | 165K | 125.92 | + | 57.1 |
| 4 | Beep | 110K | 77.71 | + | 54.8 |
| 5 | Zoox | 91K | 187.86 | + | 54.6 |
| 6 | Nuro | 61K | 81.84 | + | 51.9 |
| 7 | Luminar | 50K | 24.62 | + | 50.3 |
| 8 | Shield AI | 33K | 99.72 | + | 49.6 |
| 9 | Applied Intuition | 27K | 109.77 | + | 49.1 |
| 10 | Aurora | 22K | 28.13 | + | 46.3 |
*GFD’s Branded Keyword Ranking is a metric that combines monthly branded keyword search volume with a 1-year linear trend that is observed weekly and adjusted by search volume.
Key Takeaways:
- Waymo is the fastest growing branded keyword with an average weekly search volume increase of about 2.1K searches.
- All of the top ten autonomous vehicle firms have experienced a general increase in their branded keyword searches over the course of a year, indicating that the industry continues to draw interest.
1. Waymo
GFD Branded Keyword Score*: 65.1
Total Keyword Search Volume: 450K
Average Weekly Search Volume Change: 2131.16
Out of our 39 ranked Autonomous vehicles companies, Waymo ranks #1 in branded keyword searches. Last month, their total branded keyword search volume was 450K. Over the course of the last year, the average weekly change for their branded keyword search volume was 2131.16, indicating an increase in their 1-year trend.
2. Recogni
GFD Branded Keyword Score*: 59.7
Total Keyword Search Volume: 246K
Average Weekly Search Volume Change: 342.66
Out of our 39 ranked Autonomous vehicles companies, Recogni ranks #2 in branded keyword searches. Last month, their total branded keyword search volume was 246K. Over the course of the last year, the average weekly change for their branded keyword search volume was 342.66, indicating an increase in their 1-year trend.
3. Lucid Motors
GFD Branded Keyword Score*: 57.1
Total Keyword Search Volume: 165K
Average Weekly Search Volume Change: 125.92
Out of our 39 ranked Autonomous vehicles companies, Lucid Motors ranks #3 in branded keyword searches. Last month, their total branded keyword search volume was 165K. Over the course of the last year, the average weekly change for their branded keyword search volume was 125.92, indicating an increase in their 1-year trend.
Methodology and Sources
- Methodology: We collected data for 10k+ companies from Crunchbase and aggregated it into a set of scores through the use of quantitative transformations and expertly curated weighted averages.
- Sources: Crunchbase and Google Trends
