If you’ve ever wondered where exactly all the groundbreaking new technologies from Google are researched and developed, let us enlighten you. Not many know about X, The Moonshot Factory (or perhaps you know it by its former name, Google X). It’s a highly secured, somewhat secretive facility in Mountain View, California.
The company is currently headed by computer scientist Astro Teller. Its official website says we create radical new technologies to solve some of the world’s hardest problems. Mind you, these aren’t merely tall claims. Read on to learn about the impressive tech that Google X is working on.
And nope, no flying cars yet in 2025.
Project Taara
What is Project Taara ?
Project Taara kicked off in 2016, after its predecessor, the balloon-based Project Loon failed due to cost related issues. Time Magazine lists Project Taara amongst the 200 best inventions of 2024.
With almost 3 billion people still not having access to the internet, Taara‘s mission is to bring affordable and fast internet connectivity to even the most remote parts of the world.
The Team
Project Taara’s core team has 10 members and is led by Mahesh Krishnaswamy. Krishnaswamy says that after experiencing slow connectivity at an internet cafe in his hometown, Chennai, his interest in connectivity shot up.
The members, ranging from optical engineers to product managers, all bring in their decades worth of combined experience and are truly passionate about Taara.
The Technology
Now comes the interesting part. Project Taara’s core technology is called Wireless Optical Communication (WOC). It uses light beams to send fast and high capacity internet across long distances. Instead of relying on buried fiber optic cables, it shoots a very narrow, invisible light beam between two small terminals and creates a stable link.
Taara partners with providers and this tech helps extend their networks too, as the setup helps deliver speeds akin to fiber, in places where laying cables would be too costly or plain difficult. These light beams can cross rivers, sea channels, rough landscapes or areas where it isn’t safe to dig for cables.
The Impact
- Project Taara is operational in 13 plus countries as of date, such as India, Kenya, and Fiji. It was even used in the Coachella Music Festival in the United States!
- In Ghana, Taara has helped over 20,000 people newly join the internet and in the creation of 320 new online businesses (Time Magazine, 2024).
- In his Linkedin page, Mahesh Krishnaswamy posted that in the island nation of Anguilla in Latin America, Taara partnered with Liberty Networks, and provided backup connectivity after the island’s subsea connectivity was damaged.
Project Chorus
What is Project Chorus?
The idea behind Project Chorus is to make moving goods around the world a whole lot smarter. Every day, we know that tons of stuff is shipped around the globe, be it food, medicines or raw materials.
Even a small hiccup, like a delay in one part of the supply chain, can throw things way off (remember when toilet paper and pasta were suddenly hard to find?). Chorus aims to fix these weak spots in the system by giving businesses real time insights into where their goods are and what state they’re in.
The Team
Project Chorus is led by Suresh Vishnubhatla and team, who have been working on it for over three years.
Read Suresh’s article where he mentions how the team’s experiences across industries like pharmaceuticals and energy showed them how critical it is to know where things are and what condition they’re in.
The Technology
Chorus combines sensors, machine learning and software tools to track goods in real-time. These sensors monitor things like temperature, movement and location so businesses know exactly what’s going on with their shipments.
For example, if food is too warm or medicine is too cold during delivery, the sensors will pick it up, giving companies a heads up before it’s too late.
The Impact
So far, Chorus has been testing this tech with logistics and healthcare partners in different countries. Their sensors have been onboard trucks and have picked up patterns, like how temperature shifts depending on where items sit in a truck or how certain routes are quicker than others.
Long term, they hope to bring this visibility to more industries like construction and retail and make supply chains more efficient and less wasteful.
Project Bellwether
What is Project Bellwether?
As Another Time Best Inventions 2024 Winner, Bellwether aims to predict how our planet changes. Earth is constantly shifting – think of natural disasters like floods or wildfires, or even gradual changes in vegetation and cityscapes.
Bellwether’s goal is to help us understand and anticipate these changes, so we’re better prepared when they happen.
The Team
Headed by Sarah Russell, The Bellwether team includes data scientists, engineers and environmental experts.
They partner with both public and private sectors to make sure Bellwether’s insights reach the people who need them most, like disaster response teams, government agencies and climate change organizations.
The Technology
Bellwether uses AI-powered tools to analyze huge amounts of Earth observation data, pulling insights about changes in nature and urban areas.
This tech runs on a cloud platform that processes massive data sets fast, which means risks like wildfires and floods can be monitored in real time.
For example, Bellwether’s wildfire prediction calculates fire risks up to five years in advance by analyzing things like tree types, wind patterns and local infrastructure. Pretty cool, right?
The Impact
Bellwether’s tools are already helping partners predict and respond to natural disasters. For example, communities are using its wildfire prediction tool to better prepare for fire seasons, while first responders rely on its disaster response tech to identify critical infrastructure after events like floods.
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