Google
Inc. said Wednesday its self-driving car will be ready by 2020, and it
is in talks with major auto manufacturers as it prepares for mass
production. In an interview with Reuters,
Chris Urmson, project director for Google’s self-driving car project,
said the Internet giant is working with traditional auto suppliers as
well as tech-based hardware companies to get the job done.
Google hasn’t decided whether it will manufacture the
self-driving car itself or sell software and systems to traditional
manufacturers like Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Toyota Motor
Corp., Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG. Urmson said Google was in talks with all five about production proposals.
Google’s latest autonomous vehicles were built by Roush,
a specialty manufacturer in Detroit. The compact, pod-like prototypes
have a stylized grill that looks like a goofy grin, but Urmson told
Reuters the design probably would evolve as the project moves forward.
A fleet of Google’s self-driving cars will soon be deployed sans
steering wheels or pedals, he said. Continental AG, Robert Bosch, LG
Electronics and Nvidia Corp. are all developing parts and systems along
with Google, and Continental said it began discussions with Google in
2012, the report said.
Urmson’s timeline for when Google’s self-driving car
will
be widely available aligns with that of Tesla Motors Inc. CEO Elon Musk,
but the two dispute who will be first to sell one, and whether
legislating rules for the technology will be a major impediment to its
adoption. Musk vows that his electric car manufacturer will be the first
to market, but said a lack of federal regulations could delay them
until 2023.
Urmson told Reuters that Google does not “see any particular regulatory hurdles.”
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