The company has declined to comment about a possible sale, but did tell The Information it routinely participated in "strategic partnership discussions" and considered anything that helped it pursue its goals.

A sale wouldn't be shocking. While there are still plenty of companies involved in the self-driving field (California's DMV recently listed dozens), there has also been a lot of consolidation in the past few years. GM bought Cruise Automation in 2016, for example, while Delphi acquired nuTonomy in 2017. Those startups that remain independent are increasingly relying on big backers to fulfill their ambitions. It's not certain whether Drive.ai would need cash, but it's not as flush as its peers (it had raised $77 million as of 2018) and has lost some of its co-founders. A sale could help it remain competitive and buy time while it figures out its next course of action.