Top Google Self-Driving Car Exec Chris Urmson Stepping Down

Following 7½ years of work on the project, one of the top executives on Google’s self-driving vehicle initiative, Chris Urmson, will be stepping down.

Notably, Urmson has been with the project since its inception, and has often served as a public face for it — even testifying before a US Senate panel devoted to self-driving technology earlier this year. Urmson had been named Chief Technical Officer (CTO) on the project following the firing of former Hyundai executive John Krafcik as the project’s chief executive.

So, what’s the reason for the departure? According to a blog post from Urmson, it was because he was now “ready for a fresh challenge.” There’s no word as of yet what this will be, though, as Urmson himself stated that he wasn’t sure what was next.

Reuters followed up on the blog post, and quoted Urmson as stating: “Going to take some time and get some perspective from outside of Google.”

So, what to make of all of this? Notably, Urmson was quoted earlier this year as saying: “I’ve gone from hoping this would happen to thinking it might happen to knowing it will happen.”

Which does make one think that it’s not a matter of technical difficulties — though, I could be wrong.

The following are a few major points concerning the state of the company’s program, that may shed some light on the matter:

• Anthony Levandowski, the product manager for the self-driving car program, departed earlier this year to form a new startup with 2 other former Google employees.
• The project has been in a hiring phase lately, with many automotive industry veterans coming on board.
• The self-driving car project is expected to be transformed into a standalone company sometime this year. The project’s first general counsel was only just recently appointed.
• To date, the project has logged over 1.8 million autonomous-driving test miles in the states of California, Texas, Washington, and Arizona.
• A few months back, Google announced a partnership with Fiat Chrysler that will see a fleet of ~100 autonomous driving minivans built, and tested.

So, what to make of all this? Is a big announcement coming in the near future? Or just simple growth and change?

Source: cleantechnica.com