Google is quietly calling the tune in automotive technology development. I see it every day.

Two companies have found success recently in bringing advanced vehicle technologies to the market on two very different trajectories. One, Quanergy, recently made public its relationship with Daimler as part of a plan to bring advanced safety technology to the market. The other, Making Virtual Solid (MVS), has acknowledged its relationship with Toyota for an advanced head-up display.

Quanergy has gone from concept to OEM deal within a year of obtaining its first funding. MVS has been banging away at its solution for nearly a decade laboring in the shadows while courting Tier 1s and OEMs seemingly to no avail.

The difference between the path to market for these two companies is Google. Google cares about advanced driver assist technologies. It does not appear to care about head-up displays.

I still remember meeting MVS company president, at the time, Myra Schulman, at an industry event many years ago and being perplexed and intrigued by the company’s name. I have since gotten to know Juliana Clegg who has been carrying the flag for the past five years or so.

The fact that Quanergy found a more rapid path to the market reflects the growing influence of Google. Quanergy’s Lidar-based system is intended to replace the $70,000 Velodyne unit made famous by the rig on top of the Google self-driving car.

Quanergy is driving down the size and cost of that system to about the size of a hockey puck and the cost of an iPad. In contrast, MVS has been slogging away at the significantly less sexy head-up display category but with a no less radical technological leap in packaging, cost and performance.

The MVS solution creates what is called a volumetric, 3D head-up display that will enable safer communication of navigational cues and safety alerts in the context of the visual field ahead of the vehicle. The cost and packaging of the MVS system could help bring the technology to vehicles outside of the upper reaches of the luxury segment to which they have been until-now confined.

But without any interest from Google in head-up displays, car makers regard the category with something less than enthusiasm, though companies such as Continental have continued to steadily advance HUD technology with multiple OEM partners. The fact that Toyota is the first to adopt the MVS solution is a head turner and should open some eyes.

Multiple use cases are illustrated in a Car and Driver report (http://tinyurl.com/ofo2um5 - Toyota Developing Radical Head-up Display for Production) including the description of how the display will alert drivers to hazardous driving circumstances. In fact, the Toyota adoption of the MVS technology may in itself change the perception of the technology and restore interest in non-Google initiatives.

Still, you can sense the venture capitalists weighing the merits of investing in emerging automotive technology suppliers against Google’s commitment to or interest in their technology. It is close to amazing that MVS has made it to market at all. When the car companies and their suppliers keep you waiting, it is tempting to lose heart even as you are losing money.  (MVS executives are quick to point out the fact that their efforts have been funded by multiple OEMs throughout the development cycle.)  It looks as if MVS’s patience has finally been rewarded. Maybe Google will take note.