Google Self-Driving Car Project
Google launches the first major autonomous vehicle program, seeding the entire self-driving industry.
Explore this event on the interactive timeline →In 2009, Google began its Self-Driving Car Project (later spun off as Waymo in 2016). Using a combination of LiDAR, radar, and cameras mounted on modified Toyota Priuses, the project logged over 1.5 million autonomous miles by 2015, proving that self-driving technology could operate safely on public roads.
Key Numbers
- First Miles Logged
- 2009
- Sensor Approach
- LiDAR + Camera + Radar
Verified Facts
- The project was led by Sebastian Thrun, who had won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge with Stanford's autonomous vehicle "Stanley."
- By 2012, Google's fleet had driven 300,000 miles without a single accident while the computer was in control.
- The project directly spawned multiple competitors: key engineers left to found Aurora, Argo AI, Otto (acquired by Uber), and Nuro.