Google Seeking to Lower the Cost of Self-Driving Cars

During 2014, Google unveiled their small self-driving car and appeared to be the leader in that tech sector. Was that just optics, or was Google jumping headfirst into the automotive sector? The answer, it appears, is yes and no.

Google doesn’t want to be an automaker. However, as we reported previously, they want to work with suppliers to develop self-driving cars. Last week we didn’t know who their partners were, but now that list has been unveiled. Those companies who have partnered with Google include Bosch, Roush Enterprises, Continental, RCO Engineering, ZFLS, LG, Prefix and FRIMO.

The self-driving vehicle Google is developing will be electric. As Tesla motors has partnered with Panasonic in the development of their Lithium-Ion batteries, Google is partnering with LG for the creation of EV batteries. Interestingly enough, an IEEE Spectrum report notes that LG is also developing the battery for the Chevrolet Bolt. The Bolt, unveiled by GM last week, is an all-electric vehicle with a reported range of 200 miles. However, it isn’t the battery that helps the Google’s vehicle operate without a human driver. Part of that responsibility will go to the LIDAR.

It cost Google around $70,000 for the Velodyne LIDAR devices that they attached to their self-driving testing vehicles. When Chris Urmson, the director of the Google Self-Driving Car project, spoke at the Transportation Research Board Meeting last week in Washington D.C., he pointed out an issue with LIDAR. LIDAR is the radar device that sits on top of self-driving cars and helps with obstacle detection and navigation. Urmson reportedly said that Google is unhappy with the some of the LIDAR technology available to the point that they are developing their own in house. Google needs to lower the cost of LIDAR in order to make self-driving cars affordable in the same way that Tesla needs to make electric car batteries cheaper to lower the price of their Model III.

What do you think of Google partnering with suppliers to put together a self-driving car? Do your customers inquire about self-driving vehicle features? Will fully autonomous vehicles hit public streets before 2020?