Google has turned its self-driving car division into a new company.

Called Waymo, it is expected to continue developing the self driving cars and launch its own ride-sharing service.

'We're now an independent company within the Alphabet umbrella,' Waymo CEO Jon Krafcik told an audience at a press event in California today.

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To date, Google's cars have driven three million miles in autonomous mode, averaging about 25,000 miles per week. Called Waymo, the new firm is expected to continue developing the self driving cars and launch its own ride-sharing service.

'We've talked a lot about the two million miles we've driven on public roads,' Krafcik said at the event.

'Now we've driven another million miles on public roads.

'We don't talk as much about miles we put on in simulation.

'We've done over one billion miles in simulation[…] And we have taken over 10,000 trips with Googlers and guests in places like Mountain View, Austin and Phoenix.'

Called Waymo, it is expected to continue developing the self driving cars and launch its own ride-sharing service.

To underscore his point, Krafcik revealed the project had hit a key milestone in the journey to having fully autonomous cars cruising around public roads.

In a trip taken in October 2015 , a pod-like car with no steering wheel and brake pads drove a legally blind passenger around neighborhoods in Austin, Texas without another human in the vehicle.

It marked the first time one of the project's cars had given a passenger a ride without a human on hand to take control of a self-driving car if something went wrong.

Krafcik called that trip taken by Steve Mahan, former director of the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center, an 'inflection point' in the development of self-driving cars.

It came a year before a Budweiser beer truck equipped with self-driving technology owned by ride-hailing service Uber completed a 120-mile trip through Colorado while being steered by a robot while a human sat in the back of trailer.

THE GROUNDBREAKING DRIVE THAT CONVINCED GOOGLE A trip taken by Steve Mahan, former director of the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center, was an 'inflection point' in the development of self-driving cars. Steve Mahan, who is blind, gestures for a steering wheel that doesn't exist inside a Waymo driverless car during a Google event, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, in San Francisco. At left is Waymo principal software engineer Nathaniel Fairfield. The self-driving car project that Google started seven years ago has grown into a company called Waymo. Taken in October 2015 , a pod-like car with no steering wheel and brake pads drove a legally blind passenger around neighborhoods in Austin, Texas without another human in the vehicle. It marked the first time one of the project's cars had given a passenger a ride without a human on hand to take control of a self-driving car if something went wrong. A trip taken by Steve Mahan, former director of the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center, was an 'inflection point' in the development of self-driving cars, Google executives said. Advertisement

In doing so, Krafcik and other supporters of self-driving cars believe the technology will drastically reduce the number of deaths on the roads each year because they contend robots don't get distracted or drunk, nor ignore the rules of the road, like humans do.

A skylight is reflected in the rear window of a Waymo driverless car during a Google event Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, in San Francisco.

The firm has been hiring auto execs ahead of the change, including the appointment of Krafcik, an ex-Hyundai North America executive.

The announcement marks a crucial step in the development of Google's high-profile program, now in its seventh year.

It has been at the forefront of self-driving technology, but faces increased competition from rivals.

As its own company, Waymo will now face more pressure to generate a profit under Alphabet's management instead of simply focusing on research.

Rather than make its own cars, Waymo intends to license its technology to traditional automakers and trucking companies.

In the latest report on Google's highly anticipated fleet of self-driving vehicles, the firm revealed that it has taught its cars to perform one of the trickiest driving maneuvers to master. Google claims that its cars can perform the turn better than most humans

'It's an indication of the maturity of our technology,' John Krafcik, the project's chief executive, told reporters.

'We can imagine our self-driving tech being used in all sorts of areas.'

Uber is also working with car makers in deploying its own self-driving vehicles for its ride-hailing service, including Ford and Volvo.

Other automakers, like Volkswagen and GM, have opted to build or acquire their own self-driving tech and on-demand mobility service offerings.

Earlier this month it was revealed Google's self-driving cars are now able to perform tricky three-point turns.

The cars are fitted with 360-degree vision, and a complex internal computer that constantly calculates and analyses its surroundings.

They have mastered the driving maneuver so well that they can perform it better than humans.

In the latest report on Google's highly anticipated autonomous fleet, the firm revealed its cars perform thousands of the turns each week on real city streets.

The cars' on-board computers process map and sensor information to determine where they are in the world - on a wide highway or in a narrow alley, for instance.

They then use sensors, including their 360-degree visual system, to determine where objects are around them.

The software in the car's advanced computer system classifies objects around it by size, shape and movement pattern.

This allows it to differentiate and prioritize between a wall and a moving cyclist.

The cars were taught to identify and avoid everything from parked cars to dustbins as they performed the tricky three-point turn. A digital image shows how the car's on-board computer helps it to avoid other vehicles - outlined in purple - as it performs a smooth turn

The software then takes all of this data and projects a safe and efficient route for the car to perform its three-point turn.

'This is one of the trickiest maneuvers to master, as drivers attempt to move a two-ton machine a full 180 degrees,' Google state in its report.

'Often, drivers are forced to tentatively inch forward and backward, in tight spaces, without a full view of the road.

'Our goal is to a develop a fully self-driving car that can handle every part of driving, and that means teaching our car to handle advanced maneuvers like these multi-point turns.'

But computer chips don't navigate the road in the same way a human brain does, and so Google has had to make adjustments to ensure its three-point turn still feels natural.

For example, a computer may calculate that the most efficient turn involves a series of very short adjustments back and forth.

For passengers this jerky movement does not feel natural.

Google fixed this issue by programming its cars to perform three-point turns with wider arcs and more forward motion, the way that a human driver would.

This turn is slower, but feels more natural and comfortable to passengers.

Google currently operates 24 Lexus RX crossovers and 34 of its own gumdrop-style vehicles across four states: Washington, California, Arizona and Texas. It plans to rapidly expand this test fleet in future

Google currently operates 24 Lexus RX crossovers and 34 of its own gumdrop-style vehicles across four states: Washington, California, Arizona and Texas.

To date, the cars have driven 2.2 million miles in autonomous mode, averaging about 25,000 miles per week.

Each month, Google releases a report on its current fleet's development progress.

Within each of these reports, the firm includes a charting of all collisions.

In October, there was one collision.

While at a stop sign and yielding to traffic, one of Google's gumdrop vehicles was rear-ended by a human driver.

Google report that the vehicle was travelling at three miles per hour, and that the only damage sustained was a small amount to the rear hatch.

No injuries were reported at the scene.