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If a car company has their own self-driving technology, will they ever pay Google for theirs?
by IBM 13y ago
If a car company has their own self-driving technology, will they ever pay Google for theirs?
- gaius 13y agoOf course, why would they? The interesting thing is the motivation. BMW want to make a better car, to sell more cars. Google want self-driving to free up driver's time to consume media, which will be covered in advertising - exactly the same as releasing Android to drive mobile Internet usage. But just as Google acquired Motorola, which automaker is in their sights? GM?
- bicknergseng 13y agoThat's what I've been wondering. I know VW, Daimler AG, Toyota, Volvo, BMW, and others have making pretty good strides in self driving tech, but it seems most American car companies are pretty far behind already. I wonder if Google intends to license the tech out to the companies who can't or won't do it themselves, or if they decide to pull a Motorola and enter the manufacturing market at some point in the future.
- michaelt 13y agoGoogle could be hoping to diversify away from "everything free but ad supported" as they are with things like App Engine. They could plan to license the technology to car manufacturers for a per-car fee or subscription; along with the detailed road condition data gathered by streetview cars and android phones.
- IBM 13y agoI feel sorry for Google's shareholders if this is what they think.
- bitL 13y agoBMW has a joint research lab with Google in Munich. My guess is this is the result of its work.
- rayiner 13y agoGoogle has various patents on self-driving car technology.