Google ready to spin off self-driving car business

Google is ready to ‘graduate’ its self-driving car business into a stand-alone operation, according to Forbes. Speaking at the Nikkei Innovation Forum in Palo Alto this week, Google CEO John Krafcik, said, “Around a year ago we announced this new Alphabet structure and the ‘bet’ of Alphabet is sort of shorthand for these new entities that are forming within this new corporate structure. So this self driving car project is on its way to what we call a graduating project.” The announcement follows Googl
October 28, 2016 Read time: 1 min
1691 Google is ready to ‘graduate’ its self-driving car business into a stand-alone operation, according to Forbes.

Speaking at the Nikkei Innovation Forum in Palo Alto this week, Google CEO John Krafcik, said, “Around a year ago we announced this new Alphabet structure and the ‘bet’ of Alphabet is sort of shorthand for these new entities that are forming within this new corporate structure. So this self driving car project is on its way to what we call a graduating project.”

The announcement follows Google’s decision last December to create Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google Life Sciences), focused on using technology to better understand health, as well as prevent, detect, and manage disease.

Krafcik did not elaborate on the future name for the independent autonomous car unit, which will apparently happen “soon.”
Location Based Systems

Related Content

  • February 11, 2016
    US regulator ‘paves the way for Google’s self-driving car’
    A letter to Google, the US federal transport regulator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), appears to pave the way for self-driving cars, but adds the proviso that the rule-making could take some time. Google had requested clarification of a number of provisions in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSSs) as they apply to Google’s described design for self-driving vehicles (SDVs). “If no human occupant of the vehicle can actually drive the vehicle, it is more reasonable
    Read More
  • June 2, 2015
    Self-driving car safety perspectives
    At yesterday’s Opening Plenary, Chris Urmson’s keynote speech dealt with the reality of driverless cars on our roads. By far and away their greatest benefit to mankind will be the potential to achieve an incredible saving of life and injury on the roads, as Urmson, director of the Google Self-Driving Car program, revealed to delegates. In response to an Associated Press article last month disclosing that self-driving cars have been involved in four accidents in the state of California, Urmson revealed th
    Read More
  • December 16, 2015
    Ford to begin testing autonomous cars on California’s roads
    Fully autonomous Ford Fusion Hybrid sedans are taking to California streets next year, as Ford Research and Innovation Centre in Palo Alto continues growing. Ford is officially enrolled in the California Autonomous Vehicle Testing Program to test autonomous vehicles on public roads. The testing is a further advance of Ford’s ten-year autonomous vehicle development program and a key element of Ford Smart Mobility, the plan to take the company to the next level in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicle
    Read More
  • January 7, 2015
    Investments in autonomous driving are accelerating, says report
    Google and various automakers have increased their activity and investments toward the goal of self-driving vehicles, while Google has shifted from its previous strategy to now focus on fully driverless vehicles for the future. If successful, it will have significant implications for the auto industry, according to IHS Automotive, based on findings in its new report, Autonomous Driving: Question is When, Not If, which is an update to a previous report issued early in 2014. OEMs remain geared toward aug
    Read More

Highlighted Content