Google's Self-Driving Car Project has reportedly hired its first chief lawyer, which suggests it could spin off as a new Alphabet subsidiary. The autonomous vehicle (AV) division's first legal lead Kevin Vosen is set to start his new job later this month. At present the search giant's driverless car unit is part of its experimental lab Google X, but could become an independent new business.
Vosen is the chief legal officer of The Climate Corporation. The Silicon Valley company studies weather data to provide insurance to farmers who are guaranteed profits during harsh weather conditions such as long droughts and heavy rains.
Climate's CEO David Friedberg is a former Google employee. Friedberg is also the chairman of auto insurance company Metromile, so it is possible the companies might team up later.
Google's hiring of Vosen happened while Tesla is being investigated by the United States' National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about a fatal car crash that involved a Model S sedan in semi-autonomous Autopilot mode.
The accident happened on May 7 in a West Florida town. In addition to the NHTSA investigation, the Florida Highway Patrol is doing its own review of the car accident.
Google X also recently hired Tim Papandreou to strengthen its self-driving car team. He is the former head of the Office of Innovation at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
Google and other companies developing robotic car tech will need a veteran lawyer like Vosen to help with legal issues when dealing with federal regulators, according to Tech Crunch. Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Audi, and Uber are also developing self-driving technology.
In related news, a second self-driving car accident involving Tesla's Autopilot feature was recently reported. It involved a Tesla Model X crossover SUV.
The driver and passenger claim the electric car was in self-driving mode when it crashed and flipped over. However, Tesla told WXYZ it received no information showing that Autopilot was activated when the crash happened, according to RT.
Tesla reportedly received an alert that the car's airbag was deployed. However, a log with detailed data about the state of the e-car's controls when the collision happened was not sent to the automaker.
Here's a video on NHTSA AV regulations: