Speaking at the Nikkei Innovation Forum in Palo Alto this week, Google CEO John Krafcik, said, “Around a year ago we announced this new Alphabet structure and the ‘bet’ of Alphabet is sort of shorthand for these new entities that are forming within this new corporate structure. So this self driving car project is on its way to what we call a graduating project.”
The announcement follows Google’s decision last December to create Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google Life Sciences), focused on using technology to better understand health, as well as prevent, detect, and manage disease.
Krafcik did not elaborate on the future name for the independent autonomous car unit, which will apparently happen “soon.”