One of the Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google’s dream projects, self-driven cars is getting closer to reality every day. At the moment, the batteries in all prototype models are getting charged by conventional conductive charging cables. Google has recently filed some documents at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which suggest that Google is working its way out to cut the charging cable and beaming power to them.
In February 2015 FCC gave permission to Hevo Power, a New York-based start-up to install an experimental charger at Google’s headquarters in California. Following this installation, Momentum Dynamics from Philadelphia filed documents at FCC regarding their charger installation which corresponds the secretive C division of Google where they are developing self-driven cars. Both the companies are not answering any questions regarding their involvement in the charging mechanisms of Google Cars. Though Google has said in a statement that engineers are testing different mechanisms to make these cars more effective and affordable.
One of the major issues with these cars is the size of the batteries that are being installed to run them smoothly for a longer period of time. Still, after a short interval of times, the cars need to get charge properly by conventional methods. If Google successfully achieves the target of wireless charging, especially while the car is still running, it will allow them to reduce the size and weight of the car. This will have a major effect on the cost of the end product.
The director of self-driven cars, Chris Urmson, once mentioned in his statement that the company has received many reviews on their project, especially from the people who are suffering from disorders like paralysis and epilepsy. He said that these people are fed up with being dependent on others for their travel needs and self-driven cars will be a big blessing for them.
Still, there is a lot of work that has to be done to make such charging mechanism a reality. A company called Plugless Power is offering off home charging units to owners of Nissan Leafs, Chevrolet Volts, or Cadillac ELRs but a larger scale implementation of wireless recharging is still unheard of.
The engineers at Google have come a long way while developing these cars and have successfully done numerous tests to make them safer for the public. In fact, the system is so strong that when it is going get implicated for public use, it is expected to reduce the number of accidents by a significant number. Google is expecting to see their innovation being used by public busses and other means of public transports in the near future. It will be an amazing opportunity for a lot of companies who are working on different power related projects that can be used in these cars.
