By Mark Harris

Google took the unusual step last week of identifying key technology partners in the development of its new prototype self-driving car. Speaking at theNorth American International Auto Show in Detroit, project director Chris Urmson named Continental, Roush, Bosch, ZFLS, RCO, FRIMO, Prefix, and LG as companies that had helped to build the pod-like vehicle. The fully autonomous vehicle is undergoing testing at Google’s private track in California prior to road tests at NASA Ames later this year.

The announcement might seem strange considering how secretive Google was about its original self-driving Prius cars, which IEEE Spectrum revealed only last year as having been largely built by a little-known start-up in Berkeley. …[Read more]