Alphabet, Inc., Google's parent company, just created a new stand-alone company named Waymo that focuses on driverless car technology --- as per Google's official announcement last Dec. 13. Waymo's CEO John Krafcik said that the company stands for a new way forward in mobility. Moreover, Waymo's mission is to make driving as safe and as easy as possible.

Since 2009, Google has been developing self-driving cars. It debut its own self-driving car prototype in 2014 --- with no steering wheel, accelerator, or brake pedal. The prototype only relied to its built-in sensors and a software system to operate.

Self-driving cars can greatly reduce or eradicate deaths that happen on U.S. roads each and every year. It can also lessen traffic jams, a major time and fuel waster all over the United States. That being said, the self-driving car technology is continuously developed by various automakers, equipment suppliers, startups, and big tech companies, according to CNET.

The self-driving car project of Waymo was said to hit a milestone last year; however, most people see it as a big stunt for the new company. Steve Mahan, a legally blind person, used one of Google's self-drving car prototypes on his own in Austin, Texas in October 2015. The pod-like car was then defined as a Level 5 autonomous car, without any steering wheel and brake pads, which efficiently drove Mahan around neighborhoods in Austin.

It was the first time that no other human has taken control of a self-driving car, just in case something might go wrong along the way. Google says the company spent six months examining the car's performance before Mahan was permitted to test it alone.

As people try to understand the regulations that go into making these self-driving cars and contemplate on the implications of having this technology for regular drivers, leaving the driver's seat might happen sooner or later.