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Google's Self-Driving Car Ambitions Suffer Major Blow

Remember this name - Waymo - as you'll be hearing more of it soon. It's not the best, we agree, but if Google's parent company, Alphabet, thought it would do, then who are we to say anything else?
Google bubble car fleet 1 photo
Photo: Google
Google has been one of the first names outside the car industry to delve into the uncharted realm of autonomous vehicles, and not only that, but it also chose a unique way of doing it. Right now, it has a fleet of Lexus RX-450h hybrid SUVs testing the tech, but also a few home-made bubble cars that don't really go too fast and look like they were drawn by a five-year-old.

Be that as it may, the only company that can boast to have more experience and autonomous miles under its belt than Google is Tesla. Apart from that, Google may very well be leading the pack, with some other pioneers like German tech specialist Bosch being more secretive about its progress.

Two new snippets of information came out of Google's self-driving car department today, and they can both be catalogued as big news. We'll start with the biggest of them all: Alphabet has decided to transform this project into a separate company that will henceforth be named Waymo and be under the patronage of John Krafcik.

Automotive News reports that the new entity will operate as a “venture-backed startup” focusing on self-driving technology but also striking partnerships with players from the automotive world as well as probing its involvement in logistics and trucking.

The second tells us that Google - or should we say Waymo - has decided to lay off its intention to build a vehicle without pedals or steering wheel, and will instead focus on partnering with other automakers for a more conventional vehicle. The change was explained by the fact that US laws will not allow such a car on the roads anytime soon, so putting too much effort in this direction would be impractical.

Instead, Google/Waymo is rumored to move closer toward launching its own ridehailing service using self-driving vehicles by the end of next year. AppleInsider, quoting The Information, says that the modified Chrysler Pacifica minivans are likely to be the vehicles of choice for this new enterprise.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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