Google self-driving car team is now at 170 employees

Google is beefing up its self-driving car team, as the new technology looks to take the roads of the US by storm over the next decade. Google has previously confirmed plans to sell a mass-market self-driving car by 2020.

Google now has 170 employees in its self-driving car division, according to data compiled by Reuters, many of whom are software and systems engineers. Of those employees, 40 have previous experience in the auto industry.

Wanting to expand the team, Google is looking to fill 40 new positions, some of which are in manufacturing and politics.

For example, the company is looking for a policy analyst to "handle our various product agendas with policy makers inside and outside government".

Google's role of process engineer is described as "designing factory assembly stations, optimizing production floor layout, automating critical manufacturing processes and approving fixture designs used in the assembly of electronic modules for the self-driving car."

Google isn't expected to manufacture the cars, but to contract out the process while it focuses on hardware and software.

Google has been testing its self-driving cars on the public roadways and working with state governments on passing legislation in favor of the new tech. The vehicles have driven over 1.3 million miles autonomously in California, Texas, and Washington.

The Alphabet-owned company won't be alone in trying to take the self-driving car market. Auto giants Ford, General Motors, and Tesla have already confirmed plans to test the technology.

"This [has the potential to] dramatically reduce the number of cars on the street, 80 percent of which have people driving alone in them, and also a household's cost of transportation, which is 18 percent of their income -- around $9,000 a year -- for an asset that they use only 5 percent of the time," Robin Chase, the founder and CEO of Buzzcar, told Investopedia.

By 2030, self-driving cars are expected to create $87 billion worth of opportunities for automakers and technology developers, according to analysis published by Lux Research.

Google Looking to create Autonomous Car Site near Ann Arbor Campus

Alphabet isn’t the only one working on Autonomous cars. Ford, GM, Tesla and several other car makers are also working on autonomous cars, and the University of Michigan has even put together a state-of-the-art track at their campus in Ann Arbor. However, Alphabet is looking to create their own track where they can test their own self-driving tracks. Seeing as Google has a campus in Ann Arbor (Alphabet and Google co-founder Larry Page is an alumni of the University of Michigan located in Ann Arbor, MI), they are looking to create a track nearby.

According to a report out of Crain’s Detroit Business, Alphabet is looking for an area of about 30,000 square feet for their new R&D facility. The company has been looking in Farmington Hills, Troy, and Southfield. All of which are about 20-30 miles from their Ann Arbor campus. It’s likely that Ann Arbor could soon become a test city for the company’s self-driving cars. After all, autonomous cars are legal in the state of Michigan, with Ford and General Motors both testing out their own autonomous cars in the state.

Currently, Alphabet is only testing their self-driving cars in a handful of cities. However news broke last week that the company may expand across the pond into London. As officials have been in contact with Alphabet about bringing their self-driving cars over that way. Right now, Google has been focusing their self-driving car initiative on the US. But in order for self-driving cars to be the future, it will need to expand outside of the US. Especially with the company competing with both Ford and GM, two companies that have been making cars for years and years. Definitely have a big advantage over Google.

Nothing is official just yet, but we could see Google creating their own self-driving car track here pretty soon. A bit interesting that they are aiming for the suburbs when the Mayor of Detroit has been pushing more and more companies to come into Detroit. Although there’s not much room in Downtown Detroit for a 30,000 track for Google to test out their self-driving cars.

Google Self-Driving Cars Now Considered Drivers By NHTSA

In a landmark ruling, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently determined that Google’s Self-Driving Car Artificial Intelligence is now considered to be the “driver” of some of the first autonomous vehicles on the roads, The Guardian shares.

The official interpretation of the definition of a “driver” came in the form of a letter from the NHTSA in response to an inquiry made by Google as part of the Self-Driving Vehicle project and contains quite a few interesting nuggets, starting with an admission that the current standards are no longer sufficient:

“As self-driving technology moves beyond what was envisioned at the time when standards were issued, NHTSA may not be able to use the same kinds of test procedures for determining compliance.”

To arrive at the final interpretation, Google was pushing to understand how the current Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that govern the nuances of driving to ensure safety would be applied to Self-Driving Vehicles (SDVs). Google proposed the following:

1)     NHTSA could interpret the term “driver” as meaningless for purposes of  Google’s SDV, since there is no human driver, and consider FMVSS provisions that refer to a driver as simply inapplicable to Google’s vehicle design;

2)     NHTSA could interpret “driver” and “operator” as referring to the SDS; or

3)     NHTSA could interpret “driver’s position” or “driver’s designated seating position” as referring to the left front outboard seating position, regardless of whether the occupant of that position is able to control the vehicle’s operation or movements.

These definitions are especially relevant for Google, as it has taken an approach to self-driving vehicles that removes the typical user inputs that allow an occupant to drive the vehicle. You heard right — Google’s SDVs do not have steering wheels, brakes, or accelerators, leaving all of that to the car. This type of hard cutover to future tech makes sense, but does not allow for any transition period to autonomous driving, instead embracing the technology and optimistically leaning into the future.

Before you run off looking for a Google Car dealer or car service near you, it is important to realize that there is a key sticking point in the document — this definition is contingent upon achieving “Level 4” autonomous driving capability. The NHTSA defines that as (link to source PDF):

“Level 4 – Full Self-Driving Automation (Level 4): The vehicle is designed to perform all safety-critical driving functions and monitor roadway conditions for an entire trip. Such a design anticipates that the driver will provide destination or navigation input, but is not expected to be available for control at any time during the trip. This includes both occupied and unoccupied vehicles. By design, safe operation rests solely on the automated vehicle system.”

Ironically, this definition conflicts with the updated interpretation of “driver,” stating that the driver will provide the destination. :) An additional caveat in the interpretation was that the NHTSA would evaluate the software to ensure that it was sufficient to provide safety to the occupants, to other drivers and to the public. Considering how long it took for regulators to find the software-enabled emissions cheats that Volkswagen was just exposed for, this offers little comfort, especially when the SDVs are being programmed by the best and the brightest programmers in the world over at Google.

The interpretation also addresses and/or touches on many of the subtler points related to autonomous driving:

    Does the car need rear-view mirrors if the “driver” has no eyes? Interpretation: no need for rear-view mirrors as long as the SDV has “visibility” behind the vehicle equivalent or greater than a rear-view mirror would have provided to a human driver.
    Does the car need standard indicators, lights, and other “telltales” that are visible to the “driver?” Interpretation: because the driver is not human, there is no need for all of the visible indicators that are required in non-autonomous vehicles. Presumably, there might even be a few new standard indicators or signals added to tell the passenger(s) how the “driver” is doing, like “rebooting,” “stopping to recharge,” “please clean front sensor #1,” etc in the future.
   
Does the brake pedal have to be depressed (as a safety interlock) prior to allowing the vehicle to switch into drive mode because, y’know, Google SDVs won’t have a brake pedal? Interpretation: no need for this interlock, as it can all be handled through logic.
    Current regulation dictates that Electronic Stability Control performance be measured based on steering wheel position — how will performance of electronic stability control be measured in vehicles without a steering wheel? Interpretation: the NHTSA agrees that it will not be possible to measure performance based on the steering wheel position if there is no steering wheel but a suitable alternative will have to be identified. This is an encouraging interpretation, as it shows that the NHTSA is open minded in adapting to new tech, leaving room for the new technology to grow, evolve, and integrate into the current regulations.

This ruling is especially interesting, as it shifts the burden of liability from the vehicle owner or perhaps the occupant being carted around in a fleet vehicle… to the vehicle manufacturer. A 2014 study on the impacts of autonomous driving by Rand Corp cited (on page 111) a study by Gary Marchant and Rachel Lindor, The Coming Collision Between Autonomous Vehicles and the Liability System (2012, p. 1334), which outlined one such scenario:

“The technology is potentially doomed if there are a significant number of . . . cases, because the liability burden on the manufacturer may be prohibitive of further development. Thus, even though an autonomous vehicle may be safer overall than a conventional vehicle, it will shift the responsibility for accidents, and hence liability, from drivers to manufacturers. The shift will push the manufacturer away from the socially optimal outcome—to develop the autonomous vehicle.”

It is obvious that we are at, or fast approaching, an intersection where human drivers relinquish control of personal transportation into the hands of not a centralized human driver or conductor but, for the first time in automotive history, to artificial intelligence. These recent interpretations not only open up restrictions on manufacturers, but really open up current regulations to allow manufacturers to start playing with autonomous driving technology in the real world.

Let’s all just hope that these manufacturers put enough miles into their tech to ensure there aren’t any failures out in the real world, as it’s anyone’s guess how one accident (or even worse — a fatality) caused by autonomous driving technology would impact the progress that has been made so far.

Google posts 36 jobs for autonomous cars

After months of speculations, testing, and controversies, the self-driving car by Google seems to be in a full swing. Earlier this week, it got a major boost recently when  US vehicle safety regulators accepted its AI-powered tech as drivers under Federal Law. And now Alphabet has posted dozens of jobs (36 to be precise) related to the Google X car project.

A majority of these jobs are related to the manufacturing positions in addition to managerial positions. These are in the field of operations, supply, materials, and marketing. The positions include engineers who can work on motion control, displays, robotics and sensors.

In addition to it, there are vacancies for a manufacturing process engineer, manufacturing supplier quality engineer, and mechanical global supply chain manager. A look at the job descriptions of these positions gives a more detailed insight into the Google’s plans to manufacture self-driving cars.

The manufacturing process engineer will be responsible for designing factory assembly stations, optimizing production floor layout, automating critical manufacturing processes and approving fixture designs used in the assembly of electronic modules for the self-driving car.

The manufacturing supplier quality engineer will be responsible for creating and approving manufacturing inspection processes, equipment, tools gauges and fixtures for raw material, mechanical components, and mechanical assemblies. A mechanical global supply chain manager will look after  manufacturing development execution and other tasks.

Apart from these manufacturing positions, Google has also posted jobs in marketing. For instance, a marketing manager is required to shape go-to-market strategy and storytelling to win hearts and minds of community members, influencers, and governments.

The majority of jobs in the field of manufacturing may come as a surprise to some because Google had previously said that it would partner with other automobile companies for making the cars implying that it might only work on the software side and tech behind the cars.

In fact, there have been strong rumors of a partnership between Google and Ford for developing self-driving cars. Ford was also expected to announce such deal at the CES 2016 which took place last month.

And Ford did reveal its plans of developing high-tech cars and their ongoing research in autonomous cars but there was no mention of Google.

Last year in September, Google had hired former Hyundai head John Krafcik to hire its self-driving car division indicating that it may also work towards developing the hardware side of cars.

Last month, Krafick shared the company plans to form partnerships with established carmakers and suppliers in 2016 to accelerate the work in self-driving cars.

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Google artificial intelligence becomes first non-human to qualify as a driver

Google self-driving car system has been officially recognised as a driver in the US, paving the way for the legalisation of autonomous vehicles.

Google asked the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for clarification on its self-driving vehicles, after the US announced plans to increase the number of driverless cars on its roads.

The government agency said that it would classify Google's artificial intelligence system as the driver of its cars.

The move is seen as a first step towards changing the law for cars that have "no need for a human driver", so that they can meet safety standards for driving on public roads without a steering wheel or conventional brake pedal.

"NHTSA will interpret 'driver' in the context of Google's described motor vehicle design as referring to the self-driving system, and not to any of the vehicle occupants," explained the government agency in a letter, which has now been published online.

"We agree with Google its [self-driving vehicle] will not have a 'driver' in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years."

Google on hiring spree at driverless car unit

Google is boosting hiring for its self-driving car project as it looks to accelerate the drive to bring the vehicles to market.

There are 36 job listings by the Alphabet (GOOGL)-owned company from marketing to manufacturing jobs, highlighting how Google sees its role in the future of the auto industry.

One listing for a marketing manager expects the person to shape a "go-to-market strategy and storytelling to win hearts and minds of community members, influences and governments".

Another role for a manufacturing process engineer lays out responsibilities which include "designing factory assembly stations, optimizing production floor layout, automating critical manufacturing processes and approving fixture designs used in the assembly of electronic modules for the self-driving car".


There are a number of roles that focus on engineering and operations. Google has previously said that it was not looking to make cars, but instead partner with auto companies that could use its technology. However, the list of jobs shows that Google is focused on hardware too, though exactly how that might manifest itself is unclear.

Google has been bolstering the autonomous vehicle unit since last year. In September, the company appointed former Hyundai Motors America chief executive John Krafcik to head the driverless car division .

And the project got a huge boost after key U.S. regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said that the computer controlling the self-driving car should be legally defined as a "driver" rather than a human.

Along this vein, Google is hiring a policy analyst to "handle our various product agendas with policy makers inside and outside government".

Another interesting post is the role of head of real estate and workplace services who will "collaborate across sites to share best practices, increase efficiency, and put foundations in place for programs that scale seamlessly with growth". The job hints that Google may not be done hiring yet and could increase its physical presence for the project.

Google is currently testing its driverless cars in Mountain View, California, Austin, Texas and now Kirkland, Washington . The vehicles have driven over 1.3 million miles autonomously.

Google Autonomous Driving System Is Better Than Average Driver

While the legality of fully autonomous vehicles remains ambiguous, Alphabet’s Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has convinced the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that company’s artificial intelligence, the the brains behind the driverless project, is safe.

Google strongly advocates autonomous driving technologies, and is not the only one involved in a scuffle with regulatory authorities. Several other tech and automobile manufacturing companies have had a similar to and fro with regulators.

In a letter on February 4th, the NHTSA told Google it recognizes the AI in Google’s autonomous pod-like car as a ‘driver’, thereby establishing that the technology is considered safe enough to drive passengers.

The development will open new doors for automobile manufactures working to bring autonomous cars to roads. Google has made a lot of headway in the journey towards autonomous vehicles, but the tech company lacks expertise in elements including car design, and countless other dynamics for a commercially viable product.

To counter these limitations, Silicon Valley giants will predictably pair up with a high profile automaker, which will allow the particular tech companies to focus on the development of the AI, and leave other dynamics to manufacturing experts.

Regulatory authorities need to keep up with the rapid advancements in the segment. Since human safety is the foremost concern for authorities, minimal safety risks of autonomous driving technology must be allowed to pave a faster shift towards self driven cars. The benefits are limitless, since the technology will not only promote road transportation over longer distances, but also increase passenger experience.

Many predict that ride-sharing will soon become more popular than conventional car ownership. However, this will have a domino effect on current ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft, since the transition will result in conventional automakers placing a foot in the ride-sharing segment.

Except for Porsche, several auto manufactures have displayed exceptional support for the development of autonomous driving technology. The industry is witnessing a rapid change in the trend, and GM has already launched a ride-sharing service called Maven, while Ford is ramping up its investments in similar ventures.

Google computers qualify as drivers in automated cars, US government says

Alphabet convinces federal transportation safety board that the software in its self-driving cars is considered the driver, not the human inside.

Google has managed to persuade the US government that the tech company’s computers – rather than humans – should be defined as the “drivers” of a growing fleet of autonomous vehicles.

In a significant precedent for Google and other companies developing autonomous car technology, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has ruled that the software behind some automated cars should be considered the driver.

The decision was contained in a letter that was sent from the federal agency to Google, now a unit within a wider company named Alphabet.

For automakers, the agency’s ruling is a key step in being able to mass-produce self-driving vehicles and sell them to consumers. And on a philosophical level, it’s the most high-profile instance in which a federal agency has said a computer fits the legal definition of a human.

The lengthy document was in response to a request submitted in a November by Google to see how federal safety regulations – such as rules about seats, mirrors and brake pedals – would apply to a self-driving car. The government agency sets and enforces safety standards for US vehicles.

Google wanted to know, for example, if its autonomous vehicles had to abide by a rule that requires vehicles to have an “occupant seat for the driver”.

The government agency responded that, because it interprets the term “driver” as the self-driving system, “the ‘driver’ in this provision would not need an occupant seat”.

Google’s cars “will not have a ‘driver’ in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years,” the NHTSA wrote in the letter, which was sent last week and unearthed by Reuters on Tuesday. “If no human occupant of the vehicle can actually drive the vehicle, it is more reasonable to identify the ‘driver’ as whatever (as opposed to whoever) is doing the driving.”

Tech firms and automakers have been experimenting with self-driving cars for years. They can often be seen on the roads around Google’s Silicon Valley campus – though usually with a human ready to take the controls if needed.

But these vehicles have operated in a patchwork of state, local and federal regulations. If any automaker wanted to mass produce a driverless car to sell to consumers, it would need approval from the NHTSA.

Google in many ways has led a race among tech firms and automakers to bring driverless cars to the masses. Other competitors include Tesla, General Motors and Toyota. Uber, the ride-hailing app, has a research facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, working on technology that could replace its fleet of human drivers.

Google says its cars have self-driven more than 1m test miles, with trips in California, Texas and Washington state. Its latest model lacks a steering wheel and a brake lever.

That’s for safety reasons, according to the NHTSA letter. The tech company told regulators these features are missing because they “could be detrimental to safety because the human occupants could attempt to override” the self-driving system’s decisions, according to the letter.

The agency’s ruling likely won’t have any immediate effect on Google’s operations.

Although the NHTSA said it agreed the software was the driver in a Google car, it also said it had no test to evaluate whether the software was a good one. It also said the company would have to work around federal rules requiring cars to have basic safety features – like brake pedals. This could be done by having rules changed or by Google petitioning for an exemption, the agency said.

“Those standards were drafted at a time when it was reasonable to assume that all motor vehicles would have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, and brake pedal, almost always located at the front left seating position, and that all vehicles would be operated by a human driver,” the government said.

The US Department of Transportation so far has supported Silicon Valley’s push to take humans out of the driver’s seat, viewing it as a way to minimize traffic deaths. The White House budget, released this week, includes $4bn over the next decade to promote the development of self-driving cars.

Google self-driving cars rack up 3 million simulated miles every day

Google uses its giant data centers to simulate 3 million miles of autonomous driving per day, the company has revealed in its monthly autonomous driving status report. That's a really long way — like driving more than 500 round trips between NYC and LA — but it actually makes a lot of sense. Americans drove some 2.7 trillion miles in the year 2000 alone and Google needs all the data it can get to teach its cars how to drive safely.

The real advantage comes when Google's engineers want to tweak the algorithms that control its autonomous cars. Before it rolls out any code changes to its production cars (22 Lexus SUVs and 33 of its prototype cars, split between fleets in Mountain View and Austin), it "re-drives" its entire driving history of more than 2 million miles to make sure everything works as expected. Then, once it finally goes live, Google continues to test its code with 10-15,000 miles of autonomous driving each week.

The simulations also allow Google to create new scenarios based on real-world situations — adjusting the speeds of cars at a highway merge to check performance, for example. Engineers can then design fixes and improvements and check them in the simulator, ensuring that things are as operating as safely as possible before Google's cars make it out onto real roads.

Google Patent Teases Self-Driving Delivery Trucks

Amazon and Google are both tinkering with drone-based delivery systems, but Google is also eyeing a more down-to-earth approach.

As reported by Quartz, a patent awarded to Google this week points to self-driving delivery trucks with compartments that carry individual packages (like an autonomous Amazon locker on wheels).

Here's how it could work, according to the patent: customers' packages are loaded onto a delivery truck's small storage lockers, which can be opened from the outside of the vehicle using a keypad. The "autonomous road vehicle" then drives a specified route to each customer's address. Once it arrives, the customer will get a text message alert with the access code and how long the truck will wait for him or her to open the locker and collect the package.

Dwell periods would be based on "factors such as the value of the package, weather conditions, and the nature of the destination, history of interaction with the addressee, and addressee preferences."

If there are any traffic delays, all customers who have packages on the truck will receive updates alerting them to the estimated arrival time. The patent even suggests that recipients can swipe a credit card to unlock and pay for their purchases on the spot. Presumably, mobile payment systems like Android Pay would also be accepted, but the patent was filed in 2013 before its inception.

The patent is vague on how the self-driving part of the truck would actually work, but given Google's very public research into self-driving cars, we can only assume that the technology would be similar.

Google did not confirm whether or not it plans to pursue a driverless delivery serivce. A spokesperson told PCMag that "We hold patents on a variety of ideas – some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patents."

If the company does decide to pursue the self-driving delivery truck, the most significant hurdles will be regulatory ones. Amazon's drones have already been tested in real-world conditions. They just need final FAA approval. So if Google does plan to launch a ground-based challenge to Amazon's delivery plans, it all comes down to who can convince government regulators to let them fly--or drive--first.

Google, meanwhile, has already experimented with delivery services, albeit with human drivers and mixed results.
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Google Wants To Deliver Your Packages Via Self-Driving Trucks

Watch out, Amazon.

Google could be plotting to ferry around more than just people with its driverless vehicles, according to a new patent awarded to the company.

The patent, for an “autonomous delivery platform,” describes using self-driving trucks to deliver packages to specific destinations. Inside the truck, individual lockers will each contain one package (or perhaps multiple ones if they’re meant for the same recipient) and they can only be unlocked by entering a password on a keypad-like interface. The documents also mentions that the lockers could be equipped with payment processing technology so that a recipient can only open it after paying via credit card or via near-field communication technology.

Though the patent doesn’t describe in too much detail the self-driving car technology itself, Google is well-known for its efforts in that area. The company has been working on self-driving cars since 2009, and plans to get them on the road by 2020.

And, as Quartz notes, Google GOOGL -0.43% is also working on delivering packages via drones, so this latest patent is far from surprising, regardless of whether it does eventually put self-driving trucks on the road.

Google is of course not the only company showing interest in driverless cars and their use for delivery. Ride-hailing company, and aspiring logistics provider, Uber has been heavily investing in driverless car technology. Amazon AMZN -1.24% also joined the group recently when it announced a partnership with Ford Motors, which is developing its own driverless cars, that would let customers control their cars via Amazon’s virtual assistant, the Echo.

Wireless charging will allow an autonomous car to be more independent

Google has extended its efforts concerning the self-driving car project. Since the project was given approval by California’s Governor in 2012, the cars have been tested in Austin, Texas, and Kirkland, and have driven 1.4 million miles. However, Google wants to take it to the next level. The tech giant has plans to incorporate wireless charging in its self-driving cars, so that it functions without being dependent on a driver.

Google may conduct more tests and researches for its autonomous cars, as it still wants to improve the battery capacity. With fewer charging stations available, the cars are limited to a certain area with the a limited battery. According to a filing submitted to US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Google is working to make its self-driving cars charge wirelessly.

Google has collaborated with two companies, Hevo Power and Momentum Dynamics, to incorporate a wireless charger in these cars. FCC granted permission to the companies to install experimental chargers last year.

The process to set up experimental chargers is difficult; the charging speed is too slow as compared to the traditional charging method. Hevo’s Alpha can charge only 1.5 kilowatts from circular transmitter, while Momentum Dynamics boasts up to 200 Kilowatts through its wireless transmitters.

If Google can pull off the idea of wireless charging, it will be a power boost in its effort to make driverless cars reach a new level of success. Wireless autonomous cars will be ideal for children and old age people with physical disability or vision issues. They won’t even have to handle any wire to charge their cars.

While Google aims to go wireless for its cars, the company has its plans for its driverless cars beyond the US as well. Deputy Mayor of London, Isabel Dedring, may invite Google to London to test the self-driving cars. Since the project initiated in 2009, this will be the first time Google will test its cars outside the US. The UK’s government announced earlier this week that it will invest $29 million in eight driverless car projects.

Google is testing a clever trick to charge self-driving car batteries without ever plugging into a wall

Hands-free driving isn't the only trick Google wants its autonomous cars to perform. 

Google-parent company Alphabet is testing a way to wirelessly recharge the electric batteries on its self-driving cars, according to a report in IEEE Spectrum.

The technology would allow Google's pod-shaped cars to juice up their electric batteries simply by rolling over a special charging transmitter in the ground, similar to a manhole cover on the street, rather than needing to be plugged into a wall with a power cable, according to the report.

The technology uses resonant magnetic induction to basically beam power into the underside of the car. In theory the system could allow the cars to recharge themselves as they travel, rolling over a network of such special transmitters embedded in the pavement.

Google is testing the technology at its Googleplex headquarters in Mountain View, Califonia, as well as its special self-driving car testing facility in Merced, California, the report notes, citing recent FCC filings by two companies developing the wireless-charging technology. Google is testing systems made by Hevo Power and Momentum Dynamics.

Google told IEEE Spectrum that it tests many different technologies for its self-driving cars.

It looks like Google wants to charge its self-driving cars wirelessly

Google is testing a clever trick to charge self-driving car batteries without ever plugging into a wall

FCC filings spotted by IEEE Spectrum suggest that Google is in the process of installing wireless charging systems at its headquarters campus and the nearby Castle facility — a former Air Force base where the company tests its self-driving cars.

The documents point to installations from Hevo Power and Momentum Dynamics, both of which offer offer systems that can charge cars, trucks, and buses using plates that sit on (or embedded in) roads and driveways, while a receiver attached to the underside of the vehicle takes the power and siphons it into the battery pack. In principle, they're not much different than the wireless charging systems for phones — just on a much larger scale. (Momentum, for instance, says its systems can deliver up to 200 kilowatts of power.)

In the short term, wireless car charging is seen as a home / office product — park your car overnight or during the workday and don't bother plugging it in, basically — but companies like Qualcomm have variously suggested over the years that wireless chargers could someday be embedded in public roadways, enabling cars to stay charged even as they drive.

The implications for Google's cars are particularly obvious, especially during the testing phase where all of the vehicles are traveling between known waypoints and a home base. Even as the company eventually expands to commercial use (or commercial partnerships), early deployments will likely be on closed campuses where wireless charging pads would be easy to install in known locations.

Google to Start Testing Autonomous Vehicles in Washington

Kirkland, Wash., will be the next testing ground for Google's fleet of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles.

Google's fleet of modified Lexus SUVs equipped with autonomous vehicle technologies could soon become a familiar sight in Kirkland, Wash.

The company has been given the green light to test its self-driving vehicles in the state—which has now become the third in the country to do so. In addition to Washington, Google has received permission to test its self-driving vehicles in California and Texas.

According to Google, Kirkland offers an ideal location for the company to test its autonomous vehicle technology in rainy and wet weather conditions. The city's hilly terrain also offers an opportunity to test vehicle sensors at different elevations and angles, the company said in a statement.

Google has been driving a single Lexus RX450h SUV equipped with the company's autonomous car technology in and around Kirkland for the past several weeks in an effort to create a detailed map of the area and to identify features like traffic signals, curb heights and "keep clear" zones.

The information gathered from the exercise will help as the company begins regular testing of its vehicles in Kirkland, Google said. According to the company, Kirkland will become the second location after Mountain View, Calif., where Google will conduct regular testing of its autonomous vehicles, though it has been given the go-ahead to do so in Austin, Texas, as well.

For Google, such testing is crucial to its ability to deliver autonomous vehicles that meet federal and state standards for safety. California—where Google's headquarters are and where the company has been doing most of its testing—last year made clear that it is unwilling to let Google or any other car manufacturer operate fully autonomous vehicles on its roads for the foreseeable future.

It's unclear whether other states will follow California's lead in mandating a much more phased introduction of autonomous vehicle technology than Google had perhaps hoped for.

Google, which has made no secret of its ambition to deliver both semi-autonomous and fully autonomous vehicles over the next few years, has been conducting extensive tests of the vehicles over the past few years.

The company has compiled a voluminous set of data from its experience testing its fleet of modified Lexus vehicles and its own fully autonomous vehicles over some 1.5 million miles. The reports have offered a far more detailed look at its progress in developing and delivering the vehicles compared to the several other manufacturers engaged in similar initiatives, including Mercedes Benz, Nissan and Tesla.

For example, a recent safety report that Google submitted to California's Department of Motor Vehicles shows that over a 14-month testing period its autonomous vehicles had to hand over control to a human driver on 272 occasions to avoid a safety issue. Its vehicles had to disengage from autonomous mode on 69 other occasions to avoid potential collisions with other vehicles during the same period. In contrast, Mercedes Benz recorded 491 manual disengagements with just one vehicle over a distance of 1,300 miles.

Details on Google's autonomous vehicle program released recently by the company show that it is currently testing a fleet of 22 modified Lexus RH45h SUVs, and 33 prototypes of its own fully autonomous vehicles. Most of the testing not surprisingly is in Mountain View.

Google Preparing to Expand Self-Driving Car Program to Four More Cities

But which four cities will make the cut?

Google is preparing to expand its self-driving car project to four more U.S. cities, a recent Federal Communications Commission document suggests.

Chris Urmson, director of the Google self-driving car program, asked the FCC on January 26 to renew an experimental authority license that allows it to test radio transmitters in the 76 GHz range—likely used by the radar system on its cars. The filing was first reported by Mark Harris for IEEE Spectrum.

The request asks for a 24-month extension of the license in Mountain View, Calif, and Austin—where the self-driving cars are currently being tested—as well as four additional cities. The names of the cities were redacted from the request.

Google has an ambitious plan to introduce self-driving cars to the public by 2020. But it’s been hamstrung by preliminary rules in California that prohibit the use of fully autonomous driverless cars that don’t have a steering wheel or a brake pedal. The company introduced a self-driving car with no pedals or steering wheel, but lots of sensors and software, in June 2015. The two-seater vehicles that are tested on public roads are equipped with removable steering wheels, accelerator pedals, and brake pedals so test drivers can take over driving if necessary.

Google has to test in other cities, particularly those with different weather conditions, if it hopes to deploy these cars for widespread public use. The rules proposed by California regulators might have accelerated those plans.

Google first began testing self-driving car technology in 2009. It received a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test the cars on public roads in September 2014. It began testing in Austin in July 2015. At the time, Google said it expanded the testing program so it could experience a place with different driving environments, traffic patterns, and road conditions. The company also said it wanted to see how different communities perceive and interact with self-driving vehicles. Aside from a few adjustments—horizontal street signs and a lot more deer—the overall conditions in Austin are similar to Mountain View, Calif., the company has said.

The next four cities to get Google self-driving cars will likely be located in states with looser rules and places with more variable weather conditions. If Google were to partner with a major automaker, Michigan might make sense. There’s plenty of snow and rain in the state as well as mCity, a 32-acre simulated real-world urban environment at the University of Michigan used by automakers to test autonomous driving tech.

Nevada is another possibility. In 2011, Nevada became the first state to pass legislation to let companies operate autonomous vehicles on public roads, largely due to Google’s lobbying efforts there. Audi, Google, Kia, and Mercedes-Benz all have permits to test self-driving cars in Nevada. In May, Nevada regulators granted Daimler Trucks North America the first license for an autonomous commercial truck to operate on a U.S. public highway.

The state has less stringent rules than California. Though human drivers are still required for turning, merging, and departing, according to Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles rules.

Daimler CEO says Apple, Google making progress on car

Daimler chief executive officer Dieter Zetsche told German weekly Welt am Sonntag that a recent trip to Silicon Valley revealed that Apple and Google have made more progress on automotive projects than he had assumed.

Several carmakers and Silicon Valley companies are working on developing a self-driving car. Google tested its own prototype vehicle in 2012, to which Daimler’s luxury brand Mercedes-Benz responded by developing an S-Class limousine which drove 103 kilometers without needing any driver input.

Rumours have swirled that rival Apple is also working on a car, although the company has never confirmed this.

“Our impression was that these companies can do more and know more than we had previously assumed. At the same time they have more respect for our achievements than we thought,” Zetsche told the paper.

Zetsche and a handful of senior managers met with around 70 companies in Silicon Valley, the paper said, without naming them.

“There were concrete talks. I will not say anything about the content. It was not just about the fact that there is an innovative spirit in the Valley. We know that already. We wanted to see what drives it, and all the things that can be created from it,” Zetsche told the paper, explaining that they had also looked at start-up firms.

Zetsche said he expects Mercedes-Benz to post significant growth in the United States this year. Overall he sees the market for passenger cars growing between 1% and 1.5% in 2016, Welt am Sonntag said.

Separately, Zetsche said that officials from Germany’s vehicle authority KBA had spent three days testing various Mercedes and Smart models to see if their emissions violated emissions standards.

“To my knowledge, no conspicuous emissions levels were found,” Zetsche told the paper.

Zetsche: Silicon Valley is Serious About Building Cars

It's no secret that companies like Google and Apple are getting into the car business, but Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche learned in a recent meeting with several Silicon Valley firms that those two tech giants are further along with their automotive projects than he had thought.

The chief of Mercedes-Benz' parent company met with around 70 Silicon Valley companies, including startups, reports Automotive News. The executive would not name the firms in the meeting, but said he was impressed with how far they've come on their own.

"Our impression was that these companies can do more and know more than we had previously assumed. At the same time they have more respect for our achievements than we thought," Zetsche said in an interview with German weekly Welt am Sonntag.

"There were concrete talks. I will not say anything about the content. It was not just about the fact that there is an innovative spirit in the Valley. We know that already. We wanted to see what drives it, and all the things that can be created from it," Zetsche continued.

Mercedes has been at the forefront of self-driving technologies, having received an autonomous testing license from Nevada for its new 2017 E-Class. The company says that car only needs software tweaks to be fully autonomous. But with the introduction of rival systems like Tesla's Autopilot feature for the Model S, the German automaker's lead has begun to slip.

John Krafcik, Google Self-Driving Car Project CEO and former TrueCar boss, announced in Detroit earlier this month that company is looking for partners in the auto industry. Meanwhile, Apple has been poaching talent within the industry and has been rumored to be working on a car of its own, though it has yet to officially confirm this.
It's unknown exactly what was discussed in those meetings, but clearly whatever it was left one of the industry's top execs impressed and perhaps a little worried.

Apple, Google making progress on self-driving cars, Daimler Zetsche says

Companies working on self-driving cars have made more progress than assumes, said Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche after a recent trip to Silicon Valley.

Reuters cites a report in a German weekly newspaper, Welt am Sonntag, that quotes Zetsche after he visited companies like Apple and Google.

It’s well known that Google is developing a self-driving car, and rumours about Apple’s plans for a self-driving car have been around for a while. Apple has never confirmed any such plans, however.

"Our impression was that these companies can do more and know more than we had previously assumed. At the same time they have more respect for our achievements than we thought," Zetsche told the paper, according to Reuters.

In all, the Daimler and CEO and other company officials met with about 70 companies, including some start-ups, the report says.

"There were concrete talks. I will not say anything about the content. It was not just about the fact that there is an innovative spirit in the Valley. We know that already. We wanted to see what drives it, and all the things that can be created from it," Zetsche told the paper.

Tesla (TSLA), Alphabet (GOOGL) to Benefit from U.S. Self-Driving Plan

Electric car maker Tesla Motors (TSLA), Google self-driving car developer Alphabet (GOOGL) and four other automakers stood by at the Detroit auto show Thursday, supporters in a pivotal federal autonomous driving announcement, Investor’s Business Daily reported.

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx introduced the Obama administration's $4 billion, 10-year plan to get self-driving cars onto U.S. roads in "corridors" throughout the country.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will aim to propose best-practices guidance within six months on the safe operation of fully autonomous vehicles.

"We are also planning to propose new regulatory interpretations in the coming weeks that will help automated vehicle manufacturers implement safety innovations within the scope of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards," Foxx said.

TSLA is a Cabot Stock of the Month and GOOGL is a Cabot Top Ten Trader stock.