Google’s secret development unit, Google X, is developing a technology for the global construction market that the Internet giant says could potentially halve construction costs and significantly reduce planning-to-market time by up to 60 per cent.
Google X, which is located half a mile away from the Google HQ in California, is the unit responsible for developing the Google Glass – a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display that has made waves worldwide earlier this year.
According to Israeli news website Global.co.il, Google X’s construction technology project, named Genie, is a platform with online-based planning applications to help architects and engineers in the design process.
The platform includes planning tools of expert architects and engineers; as well as advance analytics and simulation tools.
Genie standardizes and automates the design and construction processes with unlimited design options, enabling an architect to preserve the building’s uniqueness in the urban environment.
In the development team’s report to Google Inc founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page, Genie was presented as a technology that will change the conservative global construction industry through a fundamental and revolutionary change in how buildings are designed, built, and maintained, saving trillions of dollars.
In the report, the Google X team estimates that Genie could save 30-50 per cent in prevailing construction costs and significantly shorten the time from the start of planning to market by 30-60 per cent.
Once completed and successfully launched to the global market, the project is estimated to fetch Google a whopping $120 billion a year.
Following the development of a prototype and meetings with leading US contractors, engineers and architects; the development team says response to the technology has been enthusiastic.
With the creation of the prototype, Google decided to spinoff Genie from Google X by pursuing development of the technology through a separate company, Vannevar Technology.
Vannevar Technology is set up by the team who developed the Genie project in Google X.