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Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

techcrunch.com

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Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#3
Is that surprising? I never assumed that Google was planning to build actual cars with this tech. I suppose I never really thought that deeply about how it would roll out, but if I had, I would have guessed partnerships with others in the industry.

If they can nail "self-driving tech" as well as they've nailed search, they'll potentially earn licensing fees from all vehicles, rather than from the slice of vehicles they'd manufacture themselves (with a long, expensive learning curve ahead of producing quality vehicles).

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#4
But they are working with other car makers.

Regardless, Google kick-started a lot of other car makers to start developing self-driving cars or made it OK for other car makers to be more public about their efforts.

Similarly to Tesla in pushing EV's in other car makers.

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#5
post #2

The only way this could have worked was to push cyclists and meat-drivers off the road and hand the bulk of the decision making to something centralized. I'm so thankful this vision appears to be dying.

Dying? The article says Google will be concentrating on selling their tech to existing car makers rather than producing their own car. Nothing more. Which makes perfect sense. Personally I never thought Google building the entire car was their planned end game.

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#7
post #3

Is that surprising? I never assumed that Google was planning to build actual cars with this tech. I suppose I never really thought that deeply about how it would roll out, but if I had, I would have guessed partnerships with others in the industry. If they can nail "self-driving tech" as well as they've nailed search, they'll potentially earn licensing fees from all vehicles, rather than from the slice of vehicles th…

I think the insane part of Google's original plan was the "no steering wheel" part, not the fact that they wanted to manufacture the cars themselves. There are so many corner cases. I can't imagine that they would get the tech working 100% out of the gate without needing some sort of manual override.

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#8
post #2

The only way this could have worked was to push cyclists and meat-drivers off the road and hand the bulk of the decision making to something centralized. I'm so thankful this vision appears to be dying.

Dying? The article says Google will be concentrating on selling their tech to existing car makers rather than producing their own car. Nothing more. Which makes perfect sense. Personally I never thought Google building the entire car was their planned end game.

The article is marketing speak.

It's dead. That's how they talk when they kill a product but don't want to say that.

Which doesn't surprise me in the slightest. I suspect a self driving car, on city streets, without general AI, is impossible.

It'll only work on prepared, limited access roads (like highways).

Next step: Instrument highways for self driving cars.

In-City self-driving cars is dead.

Re: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

#10
post #4

But they are working with other car makers. Regardless, Google kick-started a lot of other car makers to start developing self-driving cars or made it OK for other car makers to be more public about their efforts. Similarly to Tesla in pushing EV's in other car makers.

Which tells me there's something fundamentally wrong with the automotive (for these specific examples, but there are others) industry.

Edit: typo.

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