Ex-Hyundai USA head to lead Google's self-driven car division

The recent acquisition of Nokia HERE by BMW, Audi and Daimler showed how seriously car makers are taking the challenge posed by tech giants entering the automotive industry. The tech giants aren’t backing down and Google has hired Ex-Hyundai USA chief John Krafcik.

Krafcik will be the CEO of Google’s self-driving car division and is credited with boosting Hyundai USA’s sales after the recession. He also worked with Ford for over a decade before his role with Hyundai. Most recently, Krafcik was an executive at the online car shopping service TrueCar.

While the mainstream applications of autonomous cars aren’t immediate, the fact that Google is already hiring someone to handle the commercial facet of the business is a sign that we can see the company’s autonomous cars entering scale production soon. Google will not be manufacturing the cars directly and will be partnering with other companies for producing the self-driving cars.