Driverless cars involve so much more than just an algorithm. It is the hardware integration, safety and reliability, regulatory and compliance and the worldwide scalability of the approach.
Google may understand the algorithm but they have nothing to contribute elsewhere.
i have no idea why you're being downvoted. auto and avionics companies go through hell to test this stuff at a level that involves the hardware and how it integrates with the software. this just doesn't happen in most software companies.
this is much more than a software problem. i've heard of people verifying opcode behavior on avionics processors to determine the correct implementation of the hardware - when your software relies on it it's fair game.
i don't doubt that google could do this if they made it a priority. but it's a huge issue that encompasses more than a "software algorithm." if the collisions sensors degrade over time doesn't matter if the software works.
