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 The operation now employs at least 170 workers, according to a
Reuters review of their profiles on LinkedIn, the business-oriented
social network. Many are software and systems engineers, and some
come from other departments at Google.
More than 40 of the employees listed on LinkedIn have previous
automotive industry experience, with skills ranging from exterior
design to manufacturing. They hail from a wide range of companies,
including Tesla Motors Inc, Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co.
For a look at the composition of Google's self-driving car team, see
http://tmsnrt.rs/1oxX4Lg
Google has not disclosed details about the size or composition of
its self-driving car team, and Johnny Luu, spokesman for Google's
car team, declined to comment.
The team could have additional members who do not publish profiles
on LinkedIn.
Google has said previously that it intends to ready the technology
for a marketable self-driving car by 2020, but it may never
manufacture vehicles itself.
The tech giant is more likely to contract out manufacturing - much
like Apple does with iPhone - or to license technology to existing
car manufacturers, automotive industry experts said. Licensing would
follow the model Google has used with its Android operating system
for mobile devices.
In the past four weeks, Google has advertised nearly 40 new
positions on the team, and many are related to manufacturing. The
team currently has six people with such experience, including
purchasing, supplier development and supply chain management.
Hires with manufacturing skills could help Google find and
coordinate with a partner to build a vehicle, said Paul Mascarenas,
a former Ford executive who is president of FISITA, the
International Federation of Engineering Societies.
Google is also engaged in discussions with federal and state
regulators about how to revise motor vehicle safety standards to
accommodate autonomous cars.
The competition for technical talent is intensifying as tech and
automotive companies race to build driverless vehicles. Beyond
Google, the players include Tesla, established car makers such as
Daimler AG and GM and, and technology companies such as Apple Inc
and Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL].
Google's team is being assembled by John Krafcik, an industry
veteran who previously headed Hyundai Motor Co's U.S. operations and
is an expert in product development and manufacturing. Krafcik
joined Google in September 2015.
Another senior executive with previous automotive experience, Paul
Luskin, was hired last month as operations manager, according to his
Linkedin profile. An engineer with stints at Jaguar Cars, Ford and
Japanese supplier Denso Corp, Luskin most recently was president of
Ricardo Defense Systems, a unit of Britain's Ricardo PLC, according
to the Linkedin profile.
Google hired industry veteran Andy Warburton in July to head the
vehicle engineering team, according to his Linkedin profile.
Warburton spent two years as a senior engineering manager at Tesla
and 16 years as an engineering manager at Jaguar.
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A third auto veteran, Sameer Kshisagar, joined Google in November as
head of global supply management on the self-driving car team.
Kshisagar is a manufacturing expert who previously worked for GM,
according to his Linkedin profile.
Luskin, Warburton and Kshisagar did not respond to requests for
comment.
Google's self-driving car group also has tapped people with
experience beyond the auto industry, including aerospace (Boeing,
SpaceX, Jet Propulsion Lab) and electronics (Intel, Samsung,
Motorola), according to LinkedIn profiles.
Krafcik and Chris Urmson, director of the car team, have said they
want to forge partnerships with established automakers and others to
build vehicles. Krafcik made a public pitch for alliances at an auto
industry conference in Detroit in January.
However, Google may have to look farther than the auto industry to
find a manufacturing partner, said Raj Rajkumar, a Carnegie-Mellon
University professor who advises companies on self-driving car
development.
The tug-of-war over who controls - and profits from - the stream of
user data in self-driving cars is "an inherent and fundamental
conflict" between Google and traditional automakers, Rajkumar said.
Instead, Google may choose to build its own engineering and design
prototypes, then partner with a Chinese automaker or an Asian
contractor such as Hon Hai Precision Industry's Foxconn Technology
Co that wants to enter the automotive field, several experts said.
Michael Tracy, a Michigan-based auto manufacturing consultant, said
Google sees the potential of several different revenue streams from
its self-driving technology, including licensing its mapping
database and vehicle control software, as well as an integrated
package of software, sensors and actuators that would form the
backbone of a self-driving vehicle.
The least likely prospect is that Google will manufacture its own
vehicles, Tracy said, due to the massive expenditures required and
the stiff competition from established automakers.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit and Alexandria Sage in San
Francisco; Editing by Joseph White and Brian Thevenot.)
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