Google Hires General Counsel for Self-Driving Car Unit

Google Inc. has hired a general counsel for its experimental self-driving vehicle program, suggesting the company may be ready to turn the project into a separate organization.

Ken Vosen, formerly chief legal officer for The Climate Corp. unit of Monsanto Co., will take the job later this month, reports tech news website Recode.net.

Google’s self-driving car currently is being developed under the company’s Google X experimental lab. But Recode says the division may become a separate company before the end of 2016 under Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent.

Last month Tim Papandreou, former head of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Office of Innovation, said he was leaving to help Google X find partners for the autonomous car program. Papandreou had been the city’s primary liaison with Google.