Google Turning Self-Driving Car Division Into Standalone Company to Challenge Uber
Google is planning to turn its self-driving car division into a standalone company next year.
The new company will also offer rides for hire, challenging Uber and Lyft with its fleet of self-driving cars. The new standalone business will fall under the Alphabet Inc. corporate umbrella, a person briefed on the strategy recently told Bloomberg.
The company’s autonomous vehicles have driven more than one million miles on public roads with testing being conducted mainly in San Francisco, California and Austin, Texas. Logically, the company would launch first in those two cities.
SEE ALSO: Google Looking for Partners to Bring Autonomous Vehicle to Market
In August, Google reorganized itself into a conglomerate sporting the name Alphabet, Inc. The company’s plan is to spin off numerous divisions into standalone businesses over the next few years including its robotics division, its health care company Verily, the Google Ventures and Google Capital investment firms and Google Inc., the search engine company. Currently, the self-driving unit resides in a research division called Google X.
Recently, Google X hired John Krafcik to be CEO of its cars project. Krafcik has an auto industry veteran with previous stints at TrueCar Inc., Hyundai and Ford.
[Source: Automotive News]
Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
More by Jason Siu
Comments
Join the conversation