According to a fresh report, the former lead tech head behind Google’s self-driving car project, Chris Urmson, has started his own autonomous technology company.
Recode reports to have heard from several sources close to Urmson that he has started up a company to develop self-driving software while also working on data and hardware. It is reported that these technologies could then be sold to automakers when finished in a not too dissimilar way to Apple’s impending self-driving tech.
Urmson is thought to have talked to a number of other engineers from the likes of Uber, Apple and Tesla to join his self-funded startup and while investors have yet to throw their support behind the company, Urmson’s recognition as a leader in the autonomous technology field shouldn’t make it difficult to him to find funding.
Sources say that Urmson decided to leave Google partially because of the slow development of its products.
Additionally, the former Google engineer may have been spurred on by the success of some of his colleague’s successes. The co-founder of Google’s self-driving car project for example, Anthony Levandowski, left the technology giant and started self-driving trucking company Otto. It was acquired for $680 million in August.
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