The race to build driverless vehicles is expensive, slow, and fraught with metaphorical–and real–potholes. So why are so many big tech companies jumping in?

Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and others have partnered with automakers, other tech companies, and different specialists in the race to produce a truly driverless car. Analysts say there’s only one good reason for it: They have to.

“For Apple and other behemoths that are diving into self-driving tech or have grand plans for their own cars, that push isn’t just about breaking into a new market — it’s about defending valuable turf,” write Bloomberg‘s Reed Stevenson and Mark Gurman. They explain that, beyond profit or bragging rights, the tech companies are trying to win “the last unclaimed corner of consumers’ attention during their waking hours.”

They offer a full analysis of what’s at stake and what can be won in Transport Topics. Read it here.

By some estimates, we should have been relaxing in our autonomous cars by now. But that dream keeps getting pushed back, and Fast Company says they know why: Basic human nature.

Developers tend to assume that people can “partially” pay attention while using a “semiautonomous” car. Levels 2-4 describe certain amounts of autonomy that the vehicles can achieve, but always with the caveat that the driver needs to be ready to take control.

But people don’t behave that way in the car. They either they pay attention, or they don’t. In fact, test drivers of various autonomous vehicles have told me that it’s actually harder for a human to remain ready to take control than it is for them to fully control the vehicle.

The article explains that human reaction time isn’t good enough to wrest control away from a computer quickly enough to avoid accidents, which has made almost-autonomous vehicles–an anticipated stepping stone to full autonomous driving–nearly impossible.

Read the whole story here.

Driverless shuttles are on the road in Reston, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C., and while things are going pretty well so far, the pilot has also highlighted why driverless cars may still be some time away.

The shuttles take people to and from remote parking in an area largely under construction. Some project participants say that while they’re working fine with a rescue driver and engineer on board just in case, it’s also become clear that what works in a lab may not be ideal for on-street operation. The vehicles can’t tell if someone opens a door while in motion, for example, and they don’t know what to do about parents loading strollers. They’re also restricted to speeds of less than 25 miles per hour and while that may prevent pedestrian fatalities, it’s awfully slow for getting around.

The Washington Post offers an analysis of the project; read it here.