No official or major announcement yet and the Internet giant won’t comment on related inquiries but Google is believed to be working on its own automotive company. We don’t know if the company will start making cars but the Guardian said that an auto company is being set up according to some documents.
Google could be working on big auto firms already. For now, we just now there is Google Auto LCC. Lead by Chris Urmson, this new division is believed to be testing self-driving cars. Urmson once shared that he’s in discussion with the likes of Toyota, Ford, General Motos, Volkswagen, and Daimler. He hinted that a partnership with established companies make more sense because “making cars is really hard”.
Unfortunately, we haven’t heard any successful partnership yet. Google could still be thinking of making its own cars too. The Google Auto group has not been formally introduced but it’s already registered as a passenger vehicle manufacturer with several national and international organisations as shared by the Guardian. The latter simply gathered such information under a Public Records Act request in California. According to documents, this Google Auto is a limited liability company formed way back in 2011 when Google started testing self-driving Lexus SUVs and then followed by Prius saloons.
Google dreams of advancing self-driving technology with Google Auto as a separate identity. This makes more sense as it will protect the company and perhaps as a separate liability protection. You see, the company has been involved in some minor accidents in Mountain View, no thanks to those autonomous Lexus cars. These could just be prototype self-driving cars but we’re not doubting that Google won’t be able successful someday. It’s only a question of when.
The Guardia also shared that Google Auto has already done the following:
• applied for international vehicle identification number (VIN) codes
• liaised with America’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
• organised emissions testing in California
• decided cars will be lightweight low speed vehicles (LSVs) with only 25mph as top speed
• cars will be rear-wheel drive in design, each wheel with braking system, powered by a 20-30kW electric motor
The cars are said to be manufactured by Roush, an engineering firm based in Detroit, Michigan. These could just be experimental vehicles since Google Auto isn’t offering the vehicles for, at least, not yet. With Google’s resources, Google Auto could very well be ahead of other car manufacturers today. Android Auto is slowly being integrated in the latest vehicles today and we’re predicting millions of cars will have it as standard by next year not only in the United States but also in other countries.
Google seems to be not so secretive about this one so we have a feeling what we know are somewhat true. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see for official announcements from Google…errr, Google Auto.
VIA: The Guardian
