Google executive quits self-driving car project

Chris Urmson, Director of the Self Driving Cars Project at Google, speaks to the media during a preview of Google's prototype autonomous vehicles in Mountain View, California, U.S. on September 29, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

Chris Urmson, who was instrumental in building Google's self-driving car project, said on Friday he is leaving the team after seven and a half years.

Alphabet Inc's Google had named Urmson chief technical officer of the project after it hired former Hyundai executive John Krafcik to be chief executive of the project.