Google Self-Driving Car (Photo : http://images.techtimes.com/)
Google is looking for potential auto industry partners to develop its plans for a self-driving car in the next five years, according to the tech giant's autonomous-vehicle project head on Friday.
Project director for the self-driving car Chris Urmson said that they do are not aiming to be a car maker and that they are looking for partners in the auto industry.
According to Urmson, his team for the self-driving car is collaborating with auto industry suppliers to manufacture a fleet of high-tech "beta one" Google car prototypes, which are three generations beyond the models revealed earlier this year. Google is planning to begin the on-road testing of the cars early next year.
Urmson adds that Google's problem lies on the software, rather than the hardware. Google has a laser radar technology (LIDAR), which provides images of a vehicle's surroundings accurately with a reasonable cost.
The tech giant is also planning to take out the driving wheel on the self-driving car, which will run under 25 mph, qualifying as a neighborhood electric vehicle.
The self-driving car is just one of the projects of the California-based tech juggernaut's lab Google X. Other projects from the lab include glucose-measuring contact lenses, gigantic television screens, the Google Glass and more.
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, is hoping that the automated car will help "transform transportation" across the globe.
Urmson said that there are numerous "amazing" car makers in the Detroid are and they do not want to "replicate" their craft.
However, Google is still "assessing" how it would approach a business "relationship," said Urmson.
Google isn't the only one interested in a self-driving car.
General Motors is planning to release by 2016 the Cadillac CT6, the newest Flagship car from the car division, which has a "super cruise" option for automated driving.
While Google is aiming to launch a self-driving car within 2017 to 2020, auto industry executives are expecting the self-driving technology to be perfected by 2025.
Urmson is expected to appear at next month's Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, where potential auto industry partners will be attending.
In addition, Urmson says that his team is hiring engineers to be on board the self-driving car project, but he did not disclose budget details.
