Startup Building “Air Traffic Control” to Help Self-Driving Cars Get Through Chick

Let’s face it: American roads aren’t friendly places for pedestrians. They often feature ungodly numbers of extra-wide lanes, infinite parking lots, and tons of active driveways for cars to access chain stores and restaurants.

As it turns out, American roads aren’t too friendly to self-driving cars, either. At least not yet, according to Ben Seidl, CEO and co-founder of Autolane, a startup working on “air traffic control” for autonomous vehicles.

In an interview with TechCrunch, the founder described the company as one of the first “application layer” companies in the self-driving vehicle industry. Basically, Autolane is building infrastructure to help autonomous vehicles know exactly where to go for pick-up and drop-off. That includes all kinds of cargo: humans for robotaxis, but also g