Projects - X, The Moonshot Factory

Orchestrating the world’s goods

Chorus is developing new sensor technology, software and machine learning tools to radically improve our real-time understanding of where physical goods are, what state they are in, and how they are used.

Planetary Data Intelligence

Bellwether is developing the first prediction engine for the Earth and everything on it. Bellwether aims to help humans respond more efficiently to natural disasters, mitigate the impact of catastrophic events, and better understand our planet’s behavior.

Electric grid virtualization

Tapestry is a moonshot for the electric grid that aims to speed the transition to a resilient, carbon-free electricity system by developing new computational tools that will create a holistic and dynamic picture of the grid.

Wireless Optical Communications

Taara is working to bring fast, affordable connectivity to the world using a new approach to wireless optical communication (WOC) technology. Taara uses beams of light to deliver high-speed, high-capacity connectivity over long distances.

Direct air carbon capture

280 Earth’s moonshot is to remove large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere–affordably. While at X, the team developed advanced direct air capture technology that captures CO2 using waste heat from existing sources like data centers, and produces clean water as a byproduct.

Underwater sensing and perception

Tidal is developing new tools to protect the ocean while preserving its ability to support life and help feed humanity, sustainably. The team is working with ocean farmers to develop an underwater camera system and a set of machine perception tools.

Industrial robotics software

Intrinsic is a robotics software and AI moonshot working to unlock the creative and economic potential of industrial robotics for millions more businesses, entrepreneurs and developers. The team is developing software tools designed to make industrial robots easier to use and more flexible, so that more people can use them to make new products, businesses and services.

Computational agriculture

Mineral is using breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, sensors, and robotics to understand the plant world and find ways to grow more food in a way that is also good for the planet.

Learning robots

The Everyday Robot Project

The Everyday Robot Project is prototyping a robotic system that can operate autonomously in unstructured human environments. Teaching robots to help with everyday life requires tackling and integrating some of the hardest hardware and software challenges in the field of robotics today.

Everyday Robots

Atmospheric water harvesting

H2E was an early stage project that aimed to improve access to safe drinking water around the world by building a device that individuals could use to harvest water from the air.

Delivery drones

Wing is an autonomous delivery drone service aiming to increase access to goods, reduce traffic congestion in cities, and help ease the CO2 emissions attributable to the transportation of goods. Wing has also developed an unmanned traffic management (UTM) platform that allows unmanned aircraft to navigate around other drones, manned aircraft, and other obstacles like trees, buildings and power lines.

Internet balloons

Loon is a network of balloons, traveling along the edge of space, that extends internet connectivity to rural areas, fills coverage gaps, and improves network resilience in the event of a disaster.

Self-driving cars

The Self-Driving Car project had the goal of developing technology that could transform mobility for millions of people, whether by reducing road deaths caused by human error, reclaiming the billions of hours lost in traffic, or bringing everyday destinations within reach for those unable to drive.

Verily began at X as a collection of several projects that use technological advances like machine learning, the miniaturization of sensors, and wearable devices to lead to innovations that could someday help health professionals be more proactive in their treatment of diseases.

Glass Enterprise Edition

Glass Enterprise Edition is a wearable, hands-free computing device that intuitively fits into the user's workflow to help them remain engaged and focused on their work.

Glass Enterprise Edition

Makani developed energy kites, an airborne wind energy technology that used a wind tethered to a ground station, to efficiently harness energy from the wind.

Salt-based energy storage

Malta is a grid-scale renewable energy storage technology that stores electricity as heat in large tanks of molten salt and as cold inside large tanks of chilled liquid.

Project Foghorn

Project Foghorn aimed to radically reduce carbon emissions by pulling carbon and hydrogen out of seawater and combining it to create a new type of carbon-neutral fuel.

Project Foghorn

Geothermal energy

Dandelion seeks to make it easier and more affordable to heat and cool homes with a clean, free, abundant, and renewable resource: geothermal energy.

AI and machine learning

Brain aims to take AI and machine learning out of the lab and into everyday products much faster. Brain's technology currently powers a wide range of products across Google.

Chronicle is a cybersecurity intelligence and analytics platform that combines machine learning, large amounts of computing power, and considerable amounts of storage to help enterprise teams better manage and understand their security-related data.

Early stage moonshots

X is constantly investigating and prototyping new technologies. These early pipeline investigations are mostly kept under wraps so that teams have the freedom to experiment, learn, return to the drawing board, and iterate as much as they need to. See the X blog for the latest announcements from our projects.

Early stage moonshots