Google’s pet project of driverless cars started in 2009 with an intention to revolutionize the automobile industry. He also performed various roles at Ford Motor Company from 1990 to 2004. Krafcik’s hiring is the biggest poach yet in Silicon Valley’s bid to revolutionize the automotive industry.
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The decline in TrueCar’s stock is attributed to reports that Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has hired Truecar’s President John Krafcik.
It’s unclear as of yet how driverless cars will progress but Google has previously said that it won’t manufacture its own vehicles but instead looking to partner with other companies.
The former leader of Google’s self-driving car project, Chris Urmson, will stay on to lead technical development, it said.
Despite minor roadblocks (leading to two accidents as well, which were of course not Google car’s errors), Google’s self-driving vehicle project looks to be in full swing.
Krafcik brings with him 14 years worth of experience with Ford, where he was then the chief engineer for both the Expedition and Navigator SUVs.
Krafcik has a long history in the automotive industry; he got started at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc (NUMMI), a then-joint venture between GM and Toyota. Its homemade self-driving cars hit the road in California this summer and received permission to run tests in Texas.
Although the self-driving car program now has a CEO, it remains within the Google X lab. “The project is not becoming an Alphabet company at this stage”, a Google spokesperson said, referring to the new corporate umbrella.
Google shares fell $4.29 to $621.48 in early trading. Its first prototype car was built by Roush Enterprises. “This know-how can save hundreds of lives, give tens of millions of individuals higher mobility and free us from loads of the issues we discover irritating about driving as we speak”.
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The executive is credited for coining the term “lean production” to describe how Japanese carmakers’ plants were more productive than their US and European counterparts, using the phrase in a 1988 research paper for Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan Management Review.
