This quirky design theme was chosen with a goal of ensuring that this first-self driving car appeared friendly and inviting to early adopters of technology. Google co-founder Sergey Brin personally approved this design direction. Development began in October of 2013 and was completed just 12 months later, in 2014. “FIREFLY” transported google employees throughout Mountain View from 2014 to 2018, until it was replaced by a new generation of self driving vehicles.

The development process included collaborative, cross functional workshops between Product, Industrial Design, and Engineering teams. We created full scale and quarter scale clay models, interior bucks, and soft trim prototypes to establish design comfort, and ergonomics criteria. The team went through a complete production build process encompassing all aspects of vehicle development. It was an absolutely incredible experience as a unique combination of hard work, collaboration, fun, and continuous learning.