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X, formerly Google X, the tech giant’s secretive innovation lab, may be ready to “graduate” its self-driving car project into a full-fledged business under the Alphabet umbrella holding company, according to The Verge.

As its own standalone business within Alphabet, the self-driving car project would be expected to earn revenues, although not necessarily turn a profit. Since Alphabet now breaks out the financial performance of its side projects including Nest and Google Fiber, these businesses are now under more pressure to become profitable. The self-driving car project would face that same pressure once it’s spun out from X.

This news comes just months before the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is set to release the first federal guidelines for regulating self-driving cars this upcoming summer. Those guidelines will presumably start the process of legalizing self-driving cars on US roads, allowing companies that have been developing self-driving cars to expand their tests and start exploring business opportunities. Earlier this week, Google formed a lobbying group along with Ford, Uber, Lyft, and Volvo to try to influence regulation around self-driving cars to speed up their legalization.

How exactly Google plans to gain revenue from its self-driving cars remains a mystery, but it was reported at the end of last year that Google will build an on-demand ride-hailing service with its self-driving cars to compete with Uber. Google would likely limit such a service to small geographic areas (like specific neighborhoods or college campuses) at first and then expand them to more places over time.

Google has a few challenges to face with getting its self-driving car on the road, as the tech giant wants a fully autonomous vehicle. But California regulations state that a human driver must be behind the wheel at all times.

And this is just one challenge facing companies who are pushing for self-driving cars.

John Greenough, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on self-driving cars that examines the major strides automakers and tech companies have made to overcome the barriers currently preventing fully autonomous cars from hitting the market. Further, the report examines global survey results showing where fully autonomous cars are highly desired.

BI Intelligence

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

Three barriers have been preventing fully autonomous cars from hitting the road: 1) high technological component prices; 2) varying degrees of consumer trust in the technology; and 3) relatively nonexistent regulations. Howev er, in the past six months, there have been many advances in overcoming these barriers.

Technology has been improving as new market entrants find innovative ways to expand on existing fully autonomous car technology. As a result, the price of the components required for fully autonomous cars has been dropping.

Consumer trust in fully autonomous vehicle technology has increased in the past two years.

California became the first US state to propose regulations. California's regulations stipulate that a fully autonomous car must have a driver behind the wheel at all times, discouraging Google's and Uber's idea of a driverless taxi system.

In full, the report:

Examines consumer trust in fully autonomous vehicles

Identifies technological advancements that have been made in the industry

Analyzes the cost of fully autonomous technology and identifies how cost is being reduced

Explains the current regulations surrounding fully autonomous cars

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

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The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the emerging world of self-driving cars.