Industry sources have come forward to suggest that while Google seems to have limitless faith in its autonomous car project, major carmakers across the US aren’t nearly as convinced. The likelihood of Google getting together with America’s biggest automakers to get its autonomous vehicles out in the wild is slipping by the day. According to […]
Industry sources have come forward to suggest that while Google seems to have limitless faith in its autonomous car project, major carmakers across the US aren’t nearly as convinced.
The likelihood of Google getting together with America’s biggest automakers to get its autonomous vehicles out in the wild is slipping by the day. According to the latest update on the saga from Reuters news, the internet giant began talks with major auto brands at least two years ago, though far too many differences of vision and opinion came to light and halted plans of a collaboration in their tracks.
A Reuters source who attended one of the meetings insisted that companies were effective speaking ‘different languages’ and that Google’s driverless car vision didn’t exactly go down too well with the carmakers. Or at least, their proposals seemed unrealistic by way of timeframes.
Google has to date invested a staggering sum of money in its autonomous vehicle project, of which the fruits have been seen drifting around the firm’s Mountain View campus. It had previously been suggested that with the necessary approval from governing bodies, the first pod-cars could be on city streets across the Western US at least by the middle of next year.
However, in order to get the vehicles built and ready in sufficient numbers and to sufficient quality standards, it’s now theorized that Google will have little choice but to team up with major US automakers. And according to Reuters’ anonymous source, Detroit’s ‘Big Three’ just aren’t convinced that partnering with Google for the venture would be in their best interests.
“The auto companies are watching Google closely and trying to understand what its intentions and ambitions are,” the source told Reuters.
“Automakers are not sure if Google is their friend or their enemy, but they have a sneaking suspicion that whatever Google’s going to do is going to cause upheaval in the industry.”
The news agency also reported that carmakers noted a distinct degree of arrogance when approached by Google in relation to its driverless car project, which unsurprisingly hasn’t gone down too well.
