In the documents, Google Auto is listed as the official manufacturer of the company’s 23 autonomous Lexus cars, including the ones that were involved in recently publicized accidents.
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Google had previously attempted to get into partnership with major vehicle companies in the past few years-including General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Ford. In addition, the company is registered with national and global organizations as a passenger vehicle company.
Initially, the Internet firm used the auto division to modify and test the self-driving Lexus SUVs that replaced the company’s first self-driving Prius saloons, says the report.
An interesting report is coming out of The Guardian today concerning Google and Google Auto LLC.
It was Google Auto LLC that applied for the global vehicle identification number (VIN) codes to identify each new self-driving car, just like any other production vehicle.
The media has written countless words about Google’s self-driving auto project for years, and the company even publicly presented a prototype last year.
The move to create a subsidiary company for a driverless auto initiative was smart on Google’s part, especially because this field is risky. But since it has Google Auto, it doesn’t actually require another manufacturing partner. However it should be noted that Urmson has said “Google Auto LLC has not offered any of its LSVs for sale, and it does not plan to do so”. Had lawsuits been filed over the recent accidents, Google Auto would have assumed the liability instead of Google, and Google’s financial assets would have been protected, according to The Guardian.
Will the world be seeing driver-less cars roaming around the city in the near future?
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Whenever that day does come, it might be a “Google Auto” vehicle that picks you up to go to work. Google’s founder, Sergey Brin, announced expectations that Google’s driverless cars would be made available to the public 2017, however the date has been pushed back to 2020.
