Google likes to work on things that no one else is working on.
If run well, Google CEO Larry Page sees corporations like Google as being an agent of change.
Google has already changed the way we acquire information with Search, it's changed how we consume media content with the Chromecast, and it's already changing how we consume information with Glass.
Google is also known for its moonshot lab, where it works on experimental products that may or may not come to fruition.
Thanks to Google's driverless car experiment, we may be on the verge of reducing the number of traffic fatalities a year. The cars have already been able to master driving on freeways, but Google has since announced that its test cars can handle city streets with pedestrians.
Google X also tinkered with the idea of a hoverboard. It considered using magnets to keep the hoverboard aloft, but since magnets tend to shift polarities, the hoverboard would constantly flip over. The team considered using other materials, but ultimately decided it would be way too expensive, especially for a product that would only mildly affect society and the economy.
Google CEO Larry Page has even thought about creating aerial bikeways with the hopes of encouraging more people to bike. "It looks totally crazy," Page said in a recent TED talk. Google isn't working on that particular thing, "but it gets your imagination going."
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