Google Hits the Brakes on Autonomous Car Plans

Google is thought to be tempering its audacious self-driving car scheme. The company has been developing its own fully autonomous car prototype without a steering wheel or pedals. But it will reportedly halt such plans for now and instead develop more conventional autonomous cars alongside automakers. The news follows the departure of the self-driving car project’s technical lead, Chris Urmson, earlier this year—himself an advocate of the control-free concept. With Urmson gone (and apparently starting his own autonomous car venture), the project’s ambitions are said to have been reined in by Alphabet’s CEO, Larry Page, and CFO, Ruth Porat. (Bloomberg noted last week that Porat has been tightening budgets on Google research projects, killing ones that Page doesn’t like.) It’s thought that Google will instead focus its attentions on an ongoing project with Fiat Chrysler to build a fleet of autonomous Pacifica minivans, potentially rolling them out as part of a robotic taxi trial in 2017.