Google is planning to make its autonomous vehicles unit a standalone business within Alphabet Inc. next year, reports Bloomberg.
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The fleets could be deployed first in confined areas like college campuses, military bases or corporate office parks, Bloomberg reported.
Such a move would potential put Alphabet up against ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, presumably allowing passengers to book autonomous transportation from their phone and be picked up by one of a roving fleet of self-driving vehicles. Cities like San Francisco and Austin were mentioned as the two most likely candidates to receive the service on city-wide basis. Google spokeswoman Gina Scigliano declined to comment. The company’s self-driving auto unit now resides in the research division called Google X. It was earlier this year in August when Google announced its reorganization with Alphabet under which various companies like Google operate. The new business will offer rides to users for hire, similar to how Uber does.
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Then, as licensing law catches up and Google can prove their robot cars will not kill us all, you’ll see more Google cars on the road as taxis and public transit. Uber has recruited dozens of autonomous-vehicle researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s robotics program and in June hired Brian McClendon, Google’s former vice president of engineering, to run Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center. Tesla, Google, and Apple (just to name a few), have all tossed their hat in the ring on researching the future of the self-driving auto.
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