While Google is notorious for knowing computers better than people, it understands that we might be a bit afraid of its self-driving cars.”So rather than show the power and cool-factor of its new autonomous vehicles…”…they look like Little Tikes cars. “The cute design minimizes fear about the risks of self-driving vehicles. This way, attention stays squarely on their world-changing potential. Just look at that goofy smile!”“They might look a bit silly, but Google retains the option to evolve its car towards power and cool later.”The car has about two feet worth of foam in the front to dampen any collision, and a plastic windshield instead of shatterable glass.”Google limited the speed of these prototypes to 25 miles per hour to reduce to chance of injury in case there is a crash.”There’s no steering wheel, pedals, or gear shift. Instead, the cars have two sets of mechanical controls so they have a backup if one fails.”For being a big laser turret, the sensors on Google’s car aren’t that ominous. They give the car a 360-degree view, and its Volkswagon Bug-style body shape minimizes blindspots.”Google took inspiration from everything from fashionable dresses to the Nest thermostat to design its self-driving car.”If you look closely, you can see a Tron lightcycle provided some spark for Google’s design team.”Some say the Google car looks like the Tata Nano, a four-door city car sold in India.”While previous prototypes were basically self-driving systems mounted onto traditional cars, Google made this version from scratch.”That gave it the freedom to design every part of the car for safety and reliability.”For example, Google could choose exactly where the seatbelts went.”A car from the future people are willing to get inside today.”And it sure looks fun. It’s not too spacious width-wise, but it’s got plenty of headroom and big windows to enjoy the view.”The car comes equipped cup holders, and what looks like an emergency button. I’d expect strong entertainment systems in the backs of these things.”Google plans to build 100 to 200 of these prototypes, and work towards safety approval by the end of the year. The future’s coming a lot faster than we thought.”
While Google is notorious for knowing computers better than people, it understands that people might be a bit afraid of its self-driving cars. So rather than show the power and cool-factor of its new autonomous vehicles, Google made them look like Little Tikes cars, built them out of foam, and capped speeds at 25mph. The result is that attention stays squarely on their world-changing potential. The option to evolve into that power and cool remains, but with a lot less fear about the risks of self-driving vehicles.
Josh Constine is a Venture Partner at ~$3 billion AUM early-stage VC fund SignalFire where he invests in pre-seed startups with a focus on consumer. He teaches startup pitch writing and fundraising strategy as a recurring lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School Of Business, and with accelerators like Z Fellows, Inception Studios, and Stanford ASES.
Previously, Constine was Editor-At-Large for TechCrunch where he wrote 4000 articles and was ranked the #1 most cited tech journalist in the world from 2016-2020 by Techmeme. Constine has led 300+ on-stage interviews and keynotes in 18 countries with luminaries including Mark Zuckerberg and the CEOs of Shopify, DoorDash, Snapchat, Instagram, and more. Constine graduated from Stanford University with a Master’s degree he designed in Cybersociology, and wrote his thesis in 2008 on why remixable memes would be the future of marketing. He has been quoted in the NYT and WSJ, is regularly featured on CNN for his thoughts on AI and Silicon Valley, and advises startups on PR, fundraising, and organic growth.
