Alphabet’s X division is a pretty secretive division. It houses all of the moonshots that the company is working on. These projects stay in X until they are mature enough to spin off on their own, which the Self-Driving Car Project might be doing rather soon. The Self-Driving Car Project has had a lot of changes in the past year or so. With a number of Googlers leaving, and having John Krafcik taking over. Krafcik was nabbed from Hyundai, so he definitely knows what he’s doing in the Self-Driving Car Project, and is likely the only member of the team with experience in the automotive world.
Krafcik stated that the Self-Driving Car Project will be spun off onto its own very soon, and the project is making some key hires ahead of the spin off. The Self-Driving Car Project’s new chief legal officer is Kevin Vosen who comes from The Climate Corporation. Google is also looking for a head of real estate, a person who would be securing new space for the autonomous arm after it “graduates” from X. These hires are important, even though one isn’t actually official yet, and that’s because it means that the division is looking to take care of things itself instead of needing to rely on X for things.
What’s the most interesting here though, is the fact that Krafcik and his team is actually looking for a dedicated place for the Self-Driving Car Project to live. Google has already bought a place in Novi, Michigan for the autonomous company, but that is mostly for R&D and testing out the software in different vehicles. As the reasoning behind picking that place was to be closer to their partners – which include Ford, Fiat Chrysler and GM, all of which are minutes away in Dearborn and Detroit.
Krafcik does expect that the company is going to grow exponentially, both in the number of employees and in the geographical size as well. Which is why some of these hires are pretty important. It’s a step forward for the Self-Driving Car Project, but even two months after Krafcik stating that the project is close to “graduating” from X, there’s still very little known about when they will actually graduate and turn into its own company. Never mind what the actual name of the company will be.