X Development
X Development LLC,[2][3][4] doing business as X (formerly Google X),[1] is an American semi-secret research and development facility and organization founded by Google in January 2010.[5][6] X has its headquarters about a mile and a half from Alphabet's corporate headquarters, the Googleplex, in Mountain View, California.[7][8]
For other businesses with similar names, see X (disambiguation) § Companies.X
Google X (2010–2015)
January 2010
- SCHAFT
- Industrial Perception
- Redwood Robotics
- Meka Robotics
- Holomni
- Bot & Dolly
- Autofuss
- Jetpac
- Gecko Design
- Flutter
- DNNresearch
X's mission is to invent and launch "moonshot" technologies that aim to make the world a radically better place.[9] A moonshot is defined by X as the intersection of a big problem, a radical solution, and breakthrough technology.[10] Work at X is overseen by entrepreneur scientist Astro Teller, as CEO and "Captain of Moonshots".[11][12][13] The lab started with the development of Google's self-driving car.[13]
Active projects[edit]
Taara[edit]
The purpose of Taara is to expand global access to fast, affordable internet with beams of light. After a successful use of free-space optical communication (FSOC) as a part of Project Loon,[14] X decided to conduct more tests called Taara[15] in rural areas of India.[16] The technology uses light beams which are developed by X's office in Visakhapatnam.[17] As of December 2017, X had set up 2,000 of these units in India, through a partnership with Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited.[18]
Chorus[edit]
Chorus is a project which aims to improve the supply chain through the use of sensors, software, and machine learning tools. The team had been working on the project for 3.5 years before it was revealed in March 2022.[19]
Projects that X has considered and rejected include a space elevator, which was deemed to be currently infeasible;[59] a hoverboard, which was determined to be too costly relative to the societal benefits;[60] a user-safe jetpack, which was thought to be too loud and energy-wasting;[61] and teleportation, which was found to violate the laws of physics.[61]
Approach[edit]
In February 2016, Astro Teller, the X "Captain of Moonshots", gave a TED talk[62] in which he described the X approach to projects. Unusual characteristics of the approach included constantly trying to find reasons to kill off projects by tackling the hardest parts first, and both celebrating and rewarding staff when projects were killed off due to failure.
On May 17, 2018, an internal video entitled The Selfish Ledger was leaked by The Verge, regarding reshaping society through total data collection. A spokesperson stated that "This is a thought-experiment by the Design team from years ago that uses a technique known as ‘speculative design’ to explore uncomfortable ideas and concepts in order to provoke discussion and debate. It's not related to any current or future products."[63]
Acquisitions[edit]
A number of companies have been acquired and merged into X, covering a diverse range of skills including wind turbines, robotics, artificial intelligence, humanoid robots, robotic arms, and computer vision. In 2013, X acquired Makani Power, a US company which developed tethered wings/kites with mounted wind turbines for low cost renewable energy generation.[64] In 2014, it acquired product design and mechanical engineering firm Gecko Design, whose previous products included the Fitbit activity tracker and low-cost computers.[65] As of 2015, X has acquired 14 companies, including Redwood Robotics, Meka Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Bot & Dolly, and Jetpac.[65] In June 2017, X sold Boston Dynamics to SoftBank Group,[66] which sold it to Hyundai Motor Company in December 2020.
Campus[edit]
A reporter from Bloomberg Businessweek visited the site in 2013 and described it as "ordinary two-story red-brick buildings about a half-mile from Google's main campus. There's a burbling fountain out front and rows of company-issued bikes, which employees use to shuttle to the main campus."[7]
Controversies[edit]
On 25 October 2018, The New York Times published an exposé entitled "How Google Protected Andy Rubin, the 'Father of Android'". The company subsequently announced that "48 employees have been fired over the last two years" for sexual misconduct.[67] A week after the article appeared, Google X executive Rich DeVaul resigned pursuant to a complaint of sexual harassment.[68]