Tech giant announces former Hyundai boss as CEO for self-driving car project

folarin okunola

September 14, 2015 1:31 PM

Krafcik is Google’s first major hire from the auto industry, arriving as the company grows more ambitious with its venture in the self-driving car field.

Google's Self-Driving prototype car

Google has announced that the first CEO of its self-driving project will be John Krafcik, a 25-year car industry veteran who previously led to Hyundai’s business in the US.

Krafcik is currently the president of TrueCar, an online platform for automobile purchases. He was the CEO for Hyundai Motor America from 2008 to 2013, and he served a 14-year stint in product development for Ford before that. He will start at Google later this month.

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Google’s self-driving car hit the roads in California this summer, received permission to run tests in Texas, and Krafcik is Google’s first major hire from the auto industry, arriving as the company grows more ambitious with its venture in the self-driving car field.

However, the self-driving car project is still a part of the Google X lab even though it now has its own CEO. “The project is not becoming an Alphabet company at this stage,” a Google spokesperson said, referring to the new corporate umbrella. “Though it’s certainly a good candidate to become one at some point in the future.”

folarin okunola