General Motors

Google is getting serious about its self-driving car initiative.

Reuters reports on Wednesday that Google has entered discussions with several top automative manufacturers about self-driving cars, including General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen and Daimler, the German company behind Mercedes-Benz. The company has also partnered with a number of auto suppliers to develop and refine self-driving systems and components, such as Continental AG, Robert Bosch, LG Electronics and Nvidia.
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While the American auto market has been dominated by the Big Three in Ford, General Motors and Chrysler for several decades, the landscape is beginning to change as technology-based competitors like Tesla and Google enter the scene. To keep up with the breakthrough pace of innovation, it may be necessary for the trio of auto makers to partner up with their new rivals in the coming years.

Right on queue with that idea, Time reports on Tuesday that General Motors is open to working with Google on developing self-driving car technologies. “I’m not in charge of deciding what we will and won’t do, but I’d say we’d certainly be open to having a discussion with them,” Jon Lauckner, Chief Technology Officer at General Motors, said in an interview at the Detroit Auto Show this week.
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Rumors of Google working on an in-car entertainment system have been around for a while now, with alleged images of the interface leaking last month. Now, AutoNews is reporting that Google plans to unveil its in-car solution at I/O 2014 later this month. According to the report, Google has developed a service that “projects” data from an Android device onto a car’s dashboard display.

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