Google is a company who has invested in multiple areas of technology and all with a view to being as innovative as possible in those areas. As a result, Google has unveiled a number of products that have been seen to sometimes be on the more outlandish side of the business. That said, at its core and regardless of how out-there some of the ideas may seem at the time, the object is the same and one which looks to bring something new to the market. One area in which Google seems to be ramping up its interests, is the self-driving car industry. It is no secret that Google is investing in this area and has been making a number of extensions recently to where their self-driving cars are being tested and developed. Not to mention, only yesterday came reports that the company had hired a new CEO for their self-driving car division.
The newly appointed exec is John Krafcik who has a wide history in the automobile industry and with these developments, one would be forgiven for thinking that Google are planning on ramping up their self-driving car ambitions even further. Well, if that is the assumption being made, another Google exec has very firmly refuted the idea that the company is interested in becoming a car manufacturer anytime soon.
Philipp Justus, Google’s Managing Director for Central and Eastern Europe, was speaking today at the Frankfurt Auto Show. During which, the exec made it clear that Google is working with the auto industry and does not intend to become a car manufacturer itself. Further noting that the progress the company has already made in this field is “not something we could do alone” referring to the company’s numerous partners within the industry. This is in spite of what has sometimes seemed to be a difference of opinions between Google and various car manufacturers on the future of the industry. So it seems that once again Google is only interested in the innovation side of the business and has no grand ambitions to have their own manufactured vehicles on the road. At least, not yet.