Google creates dedicated autonomous car company - Waymo

Google has been working on its self-driving car project from quite long. The company claims to have tested its autonomous cars for over 31 lakh kilometers. The tech-giant now appears to be taking another major step in this domain. Google's parent company - Alphabet, has announced that its self-driving project is moving out from its research lab and will now operate as a stand-alone company called Waymo.

The new company will be based out of Mountain View, California. It will be headed by John Krafcik, who has been designated as the CEO of Waymo. Krafcik has claimed that Waymo will exist as an arm of Google's parent company - Alphabet, and will operate as a venture-backed start-up. According to the CEO, 'Waymo' stands for "A new way forward in mobility".

Another important update coming from Google's autonomous car project states that the company has now decided to put a hold on its intentions of making a dedicated self-driving car without steering wheel and control pedals. Instead, Waymo will be focusing on collaborating with other automakers to provide autonomous technology in conventional cars.

This comes as a major departure from Google's earlier aims regarding its in-house self-driving cars. Currently, Google's autonomous vehicle testing fleet includes Lexus SUVs and its own pod cars. These pod cars are bubble-shaped small vehicles that are fitted with advanced radar and lidar systems, but don't get a steering wheel or accelerator/brake pedals. Google believed that since it is building purely autonomous vehicles, controls for the driver won't be a requirement.

However, the company has now acknowledged the fact that current laws around various countries, especially the United States, won't allow autonomous cars where the driver can't take control in emergency situations. Moreover, customers too would be apprehensive of putting their money on such cars, especially since the autonomous vehicle business is still an unknown territory. Hence, the automaker has now decided to partner with existing automakers for the time being. The company is also planning to launch its autonomous vehicle-driven ride-hailing service by the end of next year.

Source: autoevolution