Whether it is fuel savings, safer commutes or freed-up time behind the wheel, motorists have many reasons to embrace self-driving cars.

But another group is just as eager to see these vehicles on the road: politicians.

Lawmakers from California, Texas and Virginia are wooing the autonomous-car industry, along with the jobs and tax revenue that come with it.

They are financing research centers, building fake suburbs for testing the cars and, perhaps most important, going light on regulation, all in an effort to attract a rapidly growing industry.

The prize: a piece of the estimated $20 billion automakers and other companies will spend globally on development over the next five years, according to an analysis by Gartner.