<Li> Alphabet Inc. (2016--present) </Li> <Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> waymo.com </Td> </Tr> <P> Waymo is an autonomous car development company spun out of Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., in December 2016 . It then took over the self - driving car project which Google had begun in 2009 . Alphabet describes Waymo as "a self - driving tech company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to move around". The new company, which will be headed by long - time automotive executive John Krafcik, is working towards making self - driving cars available to the public soon . From the company's FAQ: </P> <P> Our next step will be to let people trial fully self - driving cars to do everyday things like run errands or commute to work . </P>

When did google start working on driverless cars