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Google's Chris Urmson Bids Adieu to Driverless Car Project
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Chris Urmson, the chief technical officer of Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) owned Google’s self-driving car project has quit after working with the team for seven and a half years.
Although it was not clear why Urmson took the decision to leave, he said in a recent blog post that after successfully taking driverless cars from fiction to reality, he was ready to take up fresh challenges.
Before joining Google, Urmson worked at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh as an assistant professor, where he led a team on driverless cars and won a competition organized by DARPA, the research wing of the U.S. defense department.
He joined Google thereafter as the chief technical officer of its driverless car project and continued in that role even after the search giant inducted John Krafcik (a former Hyundai executive) as the chief executive officer for the project.
Driverless Car Project
The driverless car project is an integral part of Alphabet’s X labs, which has been formed to test some of the most advanced ideas of the company. However, as per some media reports, Alphabet is expected to spin off this segment in the future.
Google has been trying to bring its fully robotic car control mechanism to market by forming alliances with car manufacturers. However, the current regulatory environment doesn’t support fully automated cars, so there is some hesitation on their part to jump onboard. Besides, they are also reluctant to become the margin-pressured shell makers for the Android of cars.
Urmson however vouches for a fully automatic car as he believes that mixing robotic and human control will complicate the mechanism. In this regard, we note that the recent crash and death of the driver of a semi-automatic Tesla car in May has left the automobile industry divided on the implementation of the technology. However, Urmson believes that manufacturing a fully driverless car will take years, which might delay one of Alphabet’s longest-running research projects.
Google took the automobile industry by storm in 2010 when it unveiled a fully operational driverless car that drove around its Silicon Valley headquarters. Following this event, both automobile and tech companies started competing against each other to develop driverless car technology.
Zacks Rank
At present, Alphabet has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader technology space are Facebook, Inc. , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Blucora, Inc. and Etsy, Inc. (ETSY - Free Report) , both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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Google's Chris Urmson Bids Adieu to Driverless Car Project
Chris Urmson, the chief technical officer of Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) owned Google’s self-driving car project has quit after working with the team for seven and a half years.
Although it was not clear why Urmson took the decision to leave, he said in a recent blog post that after successfully taking driverless cars from fiction to reality, he was ready to take up fresh challenges.
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About Chris Urmson
Before joining Google, Urmson worked at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh as an assistant professor, where he led a team on driverless cars and won a competition organized by DARPA, the research wing of the U.S. defense department.
He joined Google thereafter as the chief technical officer of its driverless car project and continued in that role even after the search giant inducted John Krafcik (a former Hyundai executive) as the chief executive officer for the project.
Driverless Car Project
The driverless car project is an integral part of Alphabet’s X labs, which has been formed to test some of the most advanced ideas of the company. However, as per some media reports, Alphabet is expected to spin off this segment in the future.
Google has been trying to bring its fully robotic car control mechanism to market by forming alliances with car manufacturers. However, the current regulatory environment doesn’t support fully automated cars, so there is some hesitation on their part to jump onboard. Besides, they are also reluctant to become the margin-pressured shell makers for the Android of cars.
Urmson however vouches for a fully automatic car as he believes that mixing robotic and human control will complicate the mechanism. In this regard, we note that the recent crash and death of the driver of a semi-automatic Tesla car in May has left the automobile industry divided on the implementation of the technology. However, Urmson believes that manufacturing a fully driverless car will take years, which might delay one of Alphabet’s longest-running research projects.
Google took the automobile industry by storm in 2010 when it unveiled a fully operational driverless car that drove around its Silicon Valley headquarters. Following this event, both automobile and tech companies started competing against each other to develop driverless car technology.
Zacks Rank
At present, Alphabet has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader technology space are Facebook, Inc. , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Blucora, Inc. and Etsy, Inc. (ETSY - Free Report) , both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>