Google has refused to develop its own unmanned vehicle. Instead, the company will focus on partnerships with car manufacturers to jointly launch a service intended for the carriage of passengers on robomobile. About it reports The Information, citing its sources.
It is noted that the new service may be launched before the end of 2017. The first partner should become Fiat Chrysler, which is developing Google's self-driving car based on the minivan Pacifica. The company announced on cooperation in may, but its details were not disclosed.
According to The Information, the decision to discontinue the development of self-driving cars lobbied the head of Google Larry page and Corporation's chief financial officer Ruth Porat. The Google co-founder Sergey Brin defended the project and argued against its closure.
It is expected that a formal statement on this issue, the company will make today, December 13.
Recall that the project on creation of unmanned vehicles has been a part of Google X. In August, the technical project Director Chris Urmson announced his decision to leave the company. Except Armson, the draft also left two engineers who worked on the technology of machine vision – Dave Ferguson and Jia Jun Zhu.
