No plans to manufacture cars: Google

Google does not intend to become a manufacturer of vehicles, Google managing director for Germany, Austria and Switzerland said at the Frankfurt auto show.

Industry veteran John Krafcik, a former CEO of Hyundai Motors America, had been named as chief executive of Google's self-driving car project.

Google's pet project of driverless cars got underway in 2009, aimed at revolutionising the car industry.

The hiring of Krafcik was viewed as a sign that the tech giant was starting to look at the project as a potential and relevant business in the future.

According to Google's Philipp Justus, who was also managing director for central and eastern Europe, the search company was working on cars in partnership with the auto industry, but had no plans to become a manufacturer.

"That is not something we could do alone," Justus said, adding that Google's partners included automotive suppliers Bosch and zf Friedrichshafen, Reuters reported.

"Google also does not intend to become a car manufacturer."

German premium carmakers BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi were in the meantime hiring software experts as tech firms such as Google threatened to steal a march over them in the race to develop a self-driving car.

Justus said Google was working in partnership with the automobile industry, not in competition.

According to commentators that did not in any way close the door on a Google-driven car business, it only meant that at least for now, Google had no plans on making the cars.

It could, however, sell and support them, as it had been doing with the Nexus mobile devices and, lately, with Project Fi, providing the technology, software, and retail even as it let in players, like smartphone OEMs or network carriers, supply the hardware and infrastructure.

Project Fi is a program to deliver a fast, easy wireless experience in close partnership with leading carriers, hardware makers,

Krafcik's experience with TrueCar, an online car shopping service, would help immensely in the scenario.

That said, Google might be running out of time or potential partners, as by now major car makers were already working on their own self-driving technology and were not likely to throw away millions of dollars in research in exchange for unfamiliar technology, even if such came from Google, say commentators.