Reports have Google developing own autonomous car
Google is keeping up with its reputation of constantly innovating on anything and everything, recently having launched the Google Glass gadget, but it appears that they are now designing and developing their own autonomous car, according to US reports.
These reports originate from an initial story from a former Wall Street Journal writer, Amir Efrati, claiming inside knowledge of Google’s plans for its own in-house-designed self-driving vehicle.
So for what is worth we’ll take the report as fact. Apparently the Internet giant had a series of discussions with major manufacturers which failed to result in any concrete partnerships and so it has decided to pursue the development of its own self-driving vehicle.
Google isn’t content with building their autonomous cars for individual users, instead they said that they’re considering a scheme based on fleets of autonomous cabs they dubbed ‘robo-taxis’, aimed at picking up passengers on demand.
Even though Google has reportedly been having new discussions with auto parts companies – such as Continental AG and Magna International – the focus being to have their own vehicle manufactured their way, a source indicating the Google is still interested in partnering up with an established car maker.
On the other hand, this latter report is contradicted by others saying that Google doesn’t really believe most major car brands are actually interested in seeing fully autonomous cars built.
Previously Google has been heavily involved with the development and testing of autonomous vehicles since the early 2000s. They use a fleet of modified driverless Toyota Prius vehicles for their tests, each valued at around US$150,000 each.
After all, Google is the first receiver of an autonomous US vehicle license and was also a key figure in the states of Nevada, Florida, California and Washing DC passing laws authorizing the use of autonomous vehicles on public roads.
Autonomous cars are also set to start testing on public roads in the UK for the first time as part of a governmental plan to reduce traffic congestion in Britain.
