Google spins off self-driving car division, signalling new direction

Standalone unit Waymo will have more power to set its own priorities, but move comes after key employees walked away

Google's self-driving cars have graduated from the company's "moonshot division", X labs, to become a full-blown subsidiary of umbrella group Alphabet, called Waymo.

The new company, headed by X alumni John Krafcik, is charged with turning the self-driving car technology that Google has been developing behind closed doors into a viable business for the future.