Google is (perhaps) planning on designing its own car to demonstrate its autonomous automobile software to other manufacturers. From Kevin Fitchard at Gigaom:

“Google is weighing building its own line of self-driving cars independent of the automakers, according to a new report by Amir Efrati on JessicaLessin.com. Efrati doesn’t name his sources, but he’s a veteran Google reporter formerly of the Wall Street Journal so I have little reason to doubt them. But it does raise an interesting question: Can a tech company — even one with the resources and innovation drive of Google — build an automobile from scratch?

First the details of the report: Efrati’s sources said Google is making no headway with the entrenched automakers over partnerships to build self-driving vehicles. So it’s opted to go around them, talking to auto-components designers Continental and Magna International about having them build cars to Google’s design. (German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine also reported Continental has struck a deal with both Google and IBM.)

Efrati’s report added that Google might use these cars as part of a ‘robo-taxi’ service that prowls cities picking up passengers on demand.”

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“Cars with no steering wheels,” 1950s: