Google hires Truecar’s John Krafcik to head its self-driving vehicle project

Google is also announcing an extension of its “Paint the Town” contest, which it first conducted in Mountain View. Yet all of these people have to compensate for one another. The small vehicle did not include a steering wheel, pedals, mirrors, and other components drivers normally use to navigate cars. Unless Krafcik can clear up those points, Google’s driverless cars unit could remain a “moonshot” rather than a sustainable business. Both technologies require more software than gasoline or diesel engines. Computers can not beat human instinct and appraisal.

In addition to being anxious about outright competition from Apple and Google, automakers are also concerned about the prospects of either or both companies turning them into commodity hardware makers.

It would be a virtually ideal system of vehicles all following the rules and seamlessly carrying out their jobs without incident. This again has already been proven otherwise, as the auto can clearly perform many tests over and over without technological failure There is one issue I must discuss and it is integration.

Between Mr Krafcik, former Ford and Boeing CEO Alan Mulally (now a Google board member) and ex-GM research and development boss Lawrence Burns (now a Google Auto consultant), Google Auto is building a Dream Team to take on the century-old industry.

The recent acquisition of Nokia HERE by BMW, Audi and Daimler showed how seriously vehicle makers are taking the challenge posed by tech giants entering the automotive industry. They have even made the auto capable of inching forward at four-way stops and “asserting” its turn to avoid stalemates at these intersections.

Through it all, analysts have wondered what the end game was for Google. Surveys showed that younger people were less interested than their parents in cars and driving.

Even though neither Apple nor Google is close to mass-producing a vehicle, nervousness about their intentions – which remain cloaked in mystery – is understandable. (iOS is Apple’s operating system for mobile devices, and Android comes from Google.) “We do not plan to become the Foxconn of Apple”, Mr. Zetsche said, referring to the Chinese company that manufactures iPhones.

The project started in 2009 and hiring Krafcik to be the head of it was perceived as a sign that the company sees the potential behind it. In the meantime, watch out for pedestrians.