Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) is known for putting lots of outlandish ideas into practice, but from time to time, it’s forced to scale back its ambitions or kill them altogether.
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Today, we got one of the former.
According to The Information, Google is scaling back its autonomous car plans, known internally as “Chauffeur,” and reportedly spinning its self-driving unit from Google X into its own separate company.
So instead of having a fully autonomous vehicle made by Google without a steering wheel and pedals for us pesky humans to gum up the works, you’ll likely get a semi-autonomous vehicle developed by partners, such as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (NYSE:FCAU).
These partner-developed vehicles will likely have more “traditional features,” according to The Information.
Why Did GOOGL Backpedal?
Originally, the plan was for Google’s self-driving vehicles to do away with the wheel and pedals, but Alphabet CEO Larry Page and CFO Ruth Porat deemed this too “impractical.” What isn’t impractical, it seems, is launching a fleet of autonomous taxis by the end of 2017, locking horns with Uber and other nascent companies in the space.
We’ll know more when Google holds a conference later today to discuss the future of its autonomous car unit.
If true, that leaves Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) with one less serious competitor in the race to develop fully autonomous cars for mass consumption under its solar powered umbrella. TSLA stock is up about 3% today, while GOOGL shares are hovering just around 1.4%.
As of this writing, John Kilhefner did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.