---
title: "Investors Pour Money Into Self-Driving Cars to Capitalize on Data"
description: "Wall Street investors seem to believe that the real value of autonomous vehicles comes from the data they'll collect, based on recent AV company valuations."
date: "2019-01-30"
modified: "2019-01-30"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/investors-self-driving-cars-data"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
  - "Self-Driving Vehicles"
tags:
  - "advanced transport"
  - "Autonomous vehicles"
  - "data"
  - "Self-driving cars"
---

# Investors Pour Money Into Self-Driving Cars to Capitalize on Data

![Wall Street investors seem to believe that the real value of autonomous vehicles comes from the data they'll collect, based on recent AV company valuations.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/investors-self-driving-cars-data.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Aria Systems/Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

## Strategic Investments

When it comes to self-driving cars and other autonomous vehicles (AVs), investors are much more interested in the data they'll collect than the cars themselves.

The self-driving car bubble burst as [technological reality fell far behind](<https://futurism.com/tesla-dropped-full-self-driving-mode.md>) AV companies' lofty predictions. But Wall Street investors are still interested in AV companies that come from a more analytics-driven background, [according to *Axios*](<https://www.axios.com/split-views-about-self-driving-cars-on-wall-street-48897a1c-c480-4910-8018-65d91e69bbe6.html>). The trend suggests that the real value of AVs could be the data on passenger and driver behavior that they generate — and not, counter-intuitively, the technology that's actually operating the cars.

## Hard Split

*Axios* pointed out that Morgan Stanley analysts recently assigned vastly different values to leaders in the AV space depending on each company's background: after GM, [traditionally a carmaker](<https://futurism.com/driverless-chevy-bolt-gm-wont-drive-at-all.md>), announced some delays, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas argued that the valuation of GM's AV division should be dropped from $11.5 billion to $9 billion.

Meanwhile Waymo, a subsidiary of Google's parent company Alphabet, has a stronger data analytics background — Jonas' colleague Brian Nowak argued that Waymo is worth $37 billion but could quickly rise to $175 billion as AVs become more popular, *Axios* reports.

"The value is in the data and what you can do with it," Jonas said in the *Axios* post.

## Gold Mine

Personal data is [immensely valuable](<https://futurism.com/in-the-future-you-might-get-paid-for-the-data-you-share-online.md>), and a surefire way for tech companies to raise funds and boost their value is to ensure that they'll be able to get their hands on it.

With [Intel's 2016 prediction](<https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/krzanich-the-future-of-automated-driving/#gs.KY8HOEup>) that self-driving cars would generate four terabytes of data — equivalent to 8 million digital photos — every single day, investors have made it clear that they value the companies that won't let all that digital treasure go to waste.

**READ MORE:** [Wall Street is split on self-driving cars](<https://www.axios.com/split-views-about-self-driving-cars-on-wall-street-48897a1c-c480-4910-8018-65d91e69bbe6.html>) \[*Axios*\]

***More on Waymo: [Exclusive: A Waymo One Rider’s Experiences Highlight Autonomous Rideshare’s Shortcomings](<https://futurism.com/waymo-one-early-rider-autonomous-vehicle.md>)***

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)

## More

- [Expert Slams Waymo Safety Data: “They Obviously Do Not Trust These Numbers”](<https://futurism.com/waymo-safety-data-trust-numbers.md>)
- [In a Year, You May See Self-Driving Cars on California Streets](<https://futurism.com/in-a-year-you-may-see-self-driving-cars-on-california-streets.md>)
- [Automakers Could Give Police Control Over Your Self-Driving Car](<https://futurism.com/police-control-self-driving-cars.md>)
- [Udacity Is Building a Self-Driving Car, and They’re Opensourcing It](<https://futurism.com/udacity-is-building-a-self-driving-car-and-theyre-opensourcing-it.md>)
- [Nine Months After Killing a Pedestrian, Uber’s Self-Driving Cars Are Back on the Road](<https://futurism.com/uber-autonomous-vehicles-pittsburgh.md>)
- [Watch a Self-Driving Car Obey Police Hand Signals](<https://futurism.com/self-driving-car-obey-police-hand-signals.md>)
- [China’s Rolling Out Dedicated Highway Lanes for Self-Driving Cars](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-dedicated-highway-lanes-self-driving-cars.md>)
- [Pedestrian Found Critically Injured Under Self-Driving Car](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/pedestrian-under-self-driving-car.md>)