Self-driving car companies zoom ahead, leaving U.S. regulators behind

FILE PHOTO: A woman smiles in the back seat of a self-driving Chevy Bolt EV car during a media event by Cruise, GM’s autonomous car unit, in San Francisco, California, U.S., Nov. 28, 2017. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Self-driving vehicle companies from Tesla Inc to General Motors Co's Cruise are racing to start making money with their technology, outrunning efforts by regulators and Congress to write rules of the road for robot-driven vehicles.

On Tuesday, Cruise said that SoftBank Group Corp will invest another $1.35 billion in anticipation of Cruise launching commercial robo-taxi operations.