Google and Detroit disagree on self-driving cars

What for Google was a 'lateral' project – self-driving cars – needs to go forward (Google itself admits it) of a collaboration with Detroit. However, the meetings between Google engineers and those of the major American car manufacturers did not go well. The two sides, said one of the participants, speak a different language. Google's prototypes are machines that have a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour (about 40 kmh) and, as Sergej Brin said, aim for use 'on demand', a bit like municipal bicycles or cars same that in some cities can be taken and left. It is a completely different consumption model from the prevailing one, based on individual car ownership. Then there is another problem: the houses of Detroit, burned by so many recalls for defects (devastating both from the point of view of reputation and from the point of view of costs) are also afraid of the possible malfunctions of a 'driverless car', which the audience would watch with more fear than a normal 'recall': a problem caused by a robot run amok. Google continues with its tests, but the business model of that type of car has yet to be defined.