Ex-Hyundai America CEO Starts Working on Google’s Self-Driving Cars

Google is quite determined to make self-driving cars a common sight in the near future, but in order to achieve its goal, it needs to make sure that these things are completely safe for fellow drivers and pedestrians. The self-driving car project by Google will most likely rely on the valuable input of automotive experts such as John Krafcik, who previously worked at Ford and was the President and CEO of Hyundai’s American branch. John has recently been hired as the new CEO for the self-driving car project, and judging by his resume, he’s definitely the right man for the job. He previously worked on two “lean production” manifestos while he was at MIT, but just because he’s the new CEO of the project, this does not mean that Google will start mass-producing self-driving cars right away.

The little cars were tested on public roads over the last few months in Mountain View, California and in Austin, Texas. The initial tests proved that they are able to avoid pedestrians and traffic without too much trouble, but there’s still a lot of work to be done before they can be declared legal. Even though it might end up becoming its own company under Alphabet at some point, the self-driving car project will remain a part of Google X for now, with Krafcik at the helm.

When talking about this new job and about the project, John Krafcik said that this new technology “can save thousands of lives, give millions of people greater mobility, and free us from a lot of the things we find frustrating about driving today.”

Thank you TheVerge for providing us with this information.