Skip to main content

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.”

Related Content

  • October 19, 2016
    Future for connected cars ‘looks promising, but obstacles remain’
    A new report released today by The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU) highlights that the huge investment already going into research and development for connected vehicles is reaping rewards. However, several obstacles still remain – from privacy and security concerns, to a lack of infrastructure, the need for a legislative framework, issues around congestion and pollution and the very real threat from on-demand transport disruptors such as Uber and Lyft. Matt Kendall, telecoms analyst at The EIU, sa
  • January 14, 2016
    Autonomous car data released
    California’s Autonomous Vehicle Testing Regulations require every manufacturer authorised to test autonomous vehicles (AV) on public roads to submit an annual report summarising the disengagements, or deactivation of the autonomous mode, of the technology during testing. Eleven manufacturers are currently testing autonomous vehicles on the state’s roads, seven of which (VW/Audi, Mercedes Benz, Google, Delphi Automotive, Tesla Motors, Bosch, and Nissan) were required to submit their first disengagement re
  • March 14, 2016
    US transport chief: ‘Google car crash not a surprise’
    The recent accident in California involving a Google autonomous car and a bus “was not a surprise,” according to US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx. No one was hurt in the accident, which happened when Google’s Lexus RX-450H tried to avoid some sandbags placed around a storm drain and blocking its path; the car’s computer was said to be at fault. Speaking at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, Secretary Foxx told the BBC: “It's not a surprise that at some point there wo
  • December 2, 2016
    Smarter mapping makes for more informed decisions
    Following his keynote presentation at the 2016 ITS World Congress in Melbourne, ITS International caught up with Esri founder Jack Dangermond. It is getting close to half a century ago that Jack Dangermond and his wife Laura founded the Environmental Research Systems Institute – known today as Esri - of which he remains president.