The company applied for a driver’s license in the state, and a sharp-eyed official at the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles noticed something strange. In just a few weeks’ time, its experimental autonomous Prius was due to take the world’s first self-driving test in Nevada. In April 2012, Google was about to make history. Why has Google worked so hard to keep this one acquisition a secret? It emphasizes the leadership of Sebastian Thrun, the German computer scientist whose Stanford team won the autonomous-driving Grand Challenge in 2005, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Google’s official history of its self-driving car project does not mention the firm at all. In fact, Google went so far as to insist that some 510 employees sign agreements not to discuss that the acquisition had even occurred. The purchase of 510 Systems and its sister company, Anthony’s Robots, in the fall of 2011 was never publicly announced. If you’ve never heard of 510 Systems, that’s exactly the way Google wants it. An investigation by IEEE Spectrum has uncovered the surprising fact that Google’s innovative self-driving car and the revolutionary Street View camera technology that preceded it were largely built by 510 Systems, a tiny start-up in Berkeley, Calif. Most of these purchases were trumpeted with press conferences, press releases, and ample news coverage.Īnd yet, one of Google’s most strategic acquisitions has mysteriously been actively blocked from public view. Voice over Internet Protocol, video hosting, Web analytics, mobile devices, GPS navigation, and visual search are just a few of the examples of technologies that were absorbed into the Google empire. Google has embraced this trend with a vengeance, buying more than 170 companies over the past 13 years. Twitter got a search engine when it bought Summize in 2008. And Apple famously acquired a smart new operating system (and “reacquired” Steve Jobs) in 1996, when it bought NeXT Computer. Burroughs Corp., for example, got the Nixie tube in 1955 by buying Haydu Brothers Laboratories. One of technology’s time-honored traditions is getting intellectual property by buying companies rich in ideas but poor in cash or connections. In a stunt for TV “PriBot” delivered pizza. The Original: A robotized Toyota Prius, built by Berekely, Calif.-based startup 510 Systems, was the foundation of much of Google’s autonomous car program.
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