<P> Experiments have been conducted on automating cars since at least the 1920s ; promising trials took place in the 1950s and work has proceeded since then . The first self - sufficient and truly autonomous cars appeared in the 1980s , with Carnegie Mellon University 's Navlab and ALV projects in 1984 and Mercedes - Benz and Bundeswehr University Munich 's Eureka Prometheus Project in 1987 . Since then , numerous major companies and research organizations have developed working prototype autonomous vehicles including Mercedes - Benz , General Motors , Continental Automotive Systems , Autoliv Inc. , Bosch , Nissan , Toyota , Audi , Volvo , Vislab from University of Parma , Oxford University and Google . In July 2013 , Vislab demonstrated BRAiVE , a vehicle that moved autonomously on a mixed traffic route open to public traffic . </P>
<P> Experiments have been conducted on automating cars since at least the 1920s ; promising trials took place in the 1950s and work has proceeded since then . The first self - sufficient and truly autonomous cars appeared in the 1980s , with Carnegie Mellon University 's Navlab and ALV projects in 1984 and Mercedes - Benz and Bundeswehr University Munich 's Eureka Prometheus Project in 1987 . Since then , numerous major companies and research organizations have developed working prototype autonomous vehicles including Mercedes - Benz , General Motors , Continental Automotive Systems , Autoliv Inc. , Bosch , Nissan , Toyota , Audi , Volvo , Vislab from University of Parma , Oxford University and Google . In July 2013 , Vislab demonstrated BRAiVE , a vehicle that moved autonomously on a mixed traffic route open to public traffic . </P>
when did self driving cars first come out
when did self driving cars first come out
in the 1980s
in the 1980s