If you’re anything like me, you believe that Google is taking over the world—and you’re completely okay with it. My earliest recollection of the multinational technology company came when I was in my eighth grade computer class learning what a “search engine” was. Our paths crossed again when I was a high school junior, participating in the school-wide Stock Market Game. My team won because we randomly, arbitrary invested in that little, on-the-rise company. (I thank Google for the $20 prize money).
From search engines to tablets to YouTube, Google has slowly but surely been infiltrating our homes and workspaces with its technology, services, and—perhaps most importantly—refreshing spirit of innovation. Part of the company’s success, I believe, is owed to its fun, interactive consumer marketing strategies. How long did you find yourself playing Pac-Man via the Google Doodle? Or who could forget when Google instituted the Pokémon Challenge on Google Maps as part of last year’s April Fool’s Day? (My roommates and I camped out in our living room, glasses of wine and tablets in hand, scouring every nook and cranny of the world together in an attempt to catch ‘em all—“Charizard is at Yellowstone!”)
Google knows who its audience is—precisely because it grew up with us, evolving as the years went on and our trends came and went. As a result, it has been able to cash in on consumer nostalgia, which I believe is one of the most powerful tools in consumerism (Don Draper would wholeheartedly agree). The company is always at the same time past, present, and future—a kind of tech-trinity—remembering its consumers’ roots when delivering for-future products for the here-and-now.
To that, one of Google’s latest projects is the self-driving car. For six years, the company has outfitted regular, mass-produced cars with its self-driving technology and then tested them on California roadways. Recently, however, Google has announced its plan to take this venture one step further by building its own self-driving concept cars—sans steering wheel, gas and brake pedals, and drivers altogether.
Watch: Driverless and Talking Cars: New Technology Transforms the Way We Travel
On the one hand, one can argue that driving shouldn’t be left to the literal devices of a computer. On the other, however, having a human behind the wheel hardly ensures safety—and with the rise of text-induced-accidents, I unfortunately don’t foresee our track record getting any better.
Building on its consumers’ confidence and good graces, I’m eager to see how this enterprise develops—particularly in terms of ever getting to a point of mass production. But until California state law says otherwise, an infrastructure featuring entirely human-less, futuristic automobiles will be a thing only the likes of Google can imagine.
