A BEAUTIFUL
MIND
instead brought his autonomous
vehicles to Google, where they provided the inspiration for Google X
and, in Thrun’s view, would get the
support they needed to “impact
large, large numbers of people.”
Thrun crouches down to strap
on his roller skates, but is distracted by a Google X-branded
skateboard produced by a colleague. He grabs the board and
starts wheeling around the room.
“Sergey fell on this? Awesome,”
Thrun remarks with a smile
on his second lap. The cavernous area, nearly empty at 9 a.m.,
echoes with his chirps — “Aah!”
“Whee!”— as he loops the room,
narrowly missing the edges of
the desks, bookcases and fridges
stocked with free food.
“Don’t fall, we need you,” a
Googler shouts at Thrun.
A fascination with images as
facilitator for human relationships infused Thrun’s work on
Google Street View, which allows
people to digitally meander the
streets of Mumbai, trace a nature
hike in Yosemite, or tour New
York’s Times Square—all from
the comfort of their homes. In
2007, Google acquired mapping
technology which Thrun’s team
at Stanford had developed to
HUFFINGTON
8.19.12
Google X’s
engineers are
housed in a low
structure covered
in squares of dark,
mirrored glass…
There are jails
less secure
than this
research lab.
train Stanley—technology Thrun
nearly used to start his own company, Vutool.
Page tasked Thrun with applying the software to scaling Google
Street View as quickly as possible.
“I always felt that if countries
knew each other better, there
would be less war,” says Thrun.
“Often conflict goes with demonizing other countries and cultures.