Google asks artists to create designs for self-driving cars in new ‘Paint the Town’ campaign

Google’s self-driving car initiative could hit the market as early as 2020, but until then Google is continuing to test its cars around Mountain View. Today, Google announced a new program that will see its self-driving cars become a little more interesting to look at. The new program, called Paint the Town, is touted by Google as being a “moving art experiment” and transforms the company’s self-driving cars into moving pieces of public art.

Google says that as part of the program it is inviting artists located in California to submit their work to be featured on the self-driving prototype vehicles. The art will be featured on the cars for at least a month as they travel around California. The program is open to artists that are residents of California and 13 years or older.

The theme of the art is “my community, my neighbors” and Google wants artists to focus on creating artwork around that theme. The company will select up to 10 pieces of artwork to be featured on its cars, its website, and at an “Open Garage” community event later this fall. At the event, artists will have the opportunity to take a ride in a prototype self-driving vehicle.

Google will be holding an information session in Mountain View next month to offer more details on its self-driving cars and Paint the Town program to artists. Interested creatives can view the design guidelines for the program here and view cars with sample designs on them here.