Motorola’s Advanced Technology and Projects group not included in sale to Lenovo, will join Android team instead

Even after Google announced that it was selling Motorola to Lenovo, there were still many questions surrounding the deal and what exactly Lenovo would be getting for the low price of $2.91 billion. We now know that, not included in the deal, is the Advanced Technology and Projects group led by former DARPA director Regina Dugan. This was revealed during a conference call with Lenovo. The Verge reports that the group will be integrated into Google’s Android team. Dugan will report to Sundar Pichai, but will still run things relatively independently.

This team consists of around 100 people, who will all make the move to Google’s Mountain View office now. The group is most well known for the Project Ara modular phone. This technology allowed for different phone configurations to be constructed from various parts. Google plans to scale the project and use its plethora of resources to speed up the process. Google will also work to accelerate other projects led by Dugan, such as ones pertaining to security tattoos and biotech sensors.

Google will hold onto all of the patents obtained by the Advanced Technology and Projects group, although Lenovo will have a license to them.