Google Seeks Partners for Self-Driving Car Production

The cute car pleads with manufactures… “Build me… “

Search engine giant Google is looking for partners in the auto industry that will help it actualize its vision of bringing a self-driving car to the market in the upcoming 5 years, according to a recently published statement by the head of the autonomous-vehicle project of the company.

In an interview, the director of the project Chris Urmson said that the company does not “…particularly want to become a car maker” and that the firm is talking with and looking for its auto industry partners.

The search engine giant is talking with the biggest auto manufacturers and suppliers of the world to accelerate its efforts to release a completely autonomous car for mass consumption. It is the first fleet of cars that Google will be testing this year on the roads was made by Roush.

Google says that it expects its autonomous car to be ready for production in 5 years time, putting them in line with Nissan which also has a 2020 goal of releasing a self-driving car.

According to Mr. Urmson, his team is working in the meantime with motor vehicle suppliers to manufacture a fleet of “beta one” prototype Google vehicles that are more-advanced and the cars will be moving 3 generations ahead of the stripped-down car models that were unveiled in last spring. In early 2015, Google plans to begin testing these cars on the roads.

Roush, Continental, ZF Lenksysteme and Bosch are some of the suppliers that have been contacted by Google. Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG, Toyota Motor Corp, Ford Motor Co and General Motors are some of the automobile manufacturers that have reportedly been contacted by Google.

With autonomous cars, regulatory problems are seen to be one of the prime problems in getting self-driven vehicles released on the public roads. However, Google does not see it as a specific issue. It also states that it is keeping the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration informed about all that is happening with its project in order to ensure that the vehicle gets a smooth release in the market without any nasty surprises at the time of sale.

Source: Data and information presented on this blog have been sourced from http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2015/01/google-seeks-partners-for-self-driving-car-production.html