New Google X Lab ‘moonshot’ to be revealed next month

Google is set to unveil a new “moonshot” project from its X Lab division next month, although the only thing we know about it right now is that it isn’t a space elevator.

Sometimes referred to as Google X, the X Lab is a secret facility run by Google thought to be located somewhere in the Bay Area of Northern California. It’s been the birthplace of some of the internet giant’s most ambitious projects, including its self-driving cars and Google Glass.

Division head Astro Teller yesterday told attendees at the annual SXSW conference in Austin, Texas that X Lab would announce its latest project next month. Although he wouldn’t be drawn on what that project might be, he did say that it had something to do with control systems.

Google CEO Larry Page had apparently given him license to break at least five prototypes of the device when he saw it. The theory is that if you’re not going fast enough to break prototypes, you’re not going “radically fast.”

Teller also took time to dispel the popular myth that X Lab was building a space elevator. The myth apparently originated after a New York Times article said the division was working on it and was then repeated by FastCompany. The space elevator has however since become a mascot for X Labs. “It’s funny that people won’t just let us alone,” he added.

According to Teller, X Labs doesn’t reveal its projects too early because failure is an important part of the building process. If the general public knew about the products before Google was sure they had a chance of working, then the engineers would get dispirited when one of those projects didn’t work.

Source: The Next Web.