Google Will Spin Off Driverless Car Unit as Part of Alphabet

Starting in 2016, the search giant’s autonomous vehicle division will operate as a standalone business under Alphabet Inc. – the parent company of Google – according to unnamed sources speaking to Bloomberg.

The service could be launched in San Francisco and Austin, Texas locations, where it has tested the cars extensively, Bloomberg said, citing a person briefed on the company’s strategy.

Such a move would potential put Alphabet up against ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, presumably allowing passengers to book autonomous transportation from their phone and be picked up by one of a roving fleet of self-driving vehicles.

Alphabet declined to comment on the Bloomberg story.

Google and Uber may soon find themselves competing in the self-driving taxi business. So what does the future hold for Google’s ambitious plans to free you from the responsibility of steering, braking, and navigating? The companies under the Alphabet umbrella include Google, Nest, Google X, Google Ventures, and its Life Sciences division, which is now known as Verily, among others.

Fleets of cars could arrive first on college campuses and military bases before branching out, says the report. Basically, stating that a computer driving a auto is safer than a human driving a vehicle. Uber has recruited dozens of autonomous-vehicle researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s robotics program and in June hired Brian McClendon, Google’s former vice president of engineering, to run Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center. None of the reported accidents were caused by the self-driving auto, Google claims. But CEO Travis Kalanick acknowledged at a conference in October that Google has the lead in developing a robot auto.