The Google division that works on solving the world's problems. The X motto is "turning science fiction into reality." Known as the "The Moonshot Factory," X was founded in 2010 as Google X and renamed X Development in 2015. As of 2025, the website copyright is "X, a division of Google LLC." Early projects were self-driving cars and Google Glass (see
Waymo and
Google Glass).
Following are X projects in alphabetical order, several of which have become independent companies under Google's parent company Alphabet." See Google and Alphabet.
Bellwether (weather)
Predicting weather along with disaster planning, response and recovery.
Chorus (logistics)
Orchestrating the movement of the world's goods to improve efficiency and reduce waste.
Circularity Moonshot (global waste)
Converting waste into usable resources.
Taara (Internet access)
High-speed optical transmitters beam Internet access from tower to tower where laying fiber is not possible. Taara terminals have been installed in rural India.
Tapestry (grid)
Creating an AI-powered electrical grid for the future.
DISCONTINUED PROJECTS
H2E (pull water from air), Makani (wind energy) and Foghorn (turn seawater hydrogen into fuel) were ended, although all the research was published for future use.
PROJECTS THAT BECAME COMPANIES
The following projects migrated to independent companies under the Alphabet umbrella.
280 Earth (carbon dioxide removal)
A direct air capture technology company that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The first 280 Earth plant operates in Dalles, Oregon.
Aida (software coding)
A natural language AI assistant that helps developers code and debug program.s
Brain (AI deep learning)
Moved deep learning into commercial prime time and became part of Google Brain in 2012. See Google Brain.
Chronicle (cybersecurity)
Developed Backstory, a cybersecurity telemetry platform. Became part of Google Cloud in 2018.
Dandelion (heat and cooling)
Created geothermal system to heat and cool homes. Became and indepented company in 2017.
Delta (food identification)
Food distribution and identification systems to reduce waste and fight hunger. In 2020, Delta became available through Open Product Recovery, which helps organizations reduce food waste
Everyday Robots (general-purpose robots)
The development of robots that teach themselves. Moved to DeepMind division. See DeepMind.
Gcam (mobile photography)
Improving photography with software for Google Glass, Pixel phone camera and applications within Android, YouTube and Google Photos. In 2015, Gcam was absorbed by Google Research.
Heritable (agriculture)
An independent company focused on making the world's food and agricultural systems more resilient.
Intrinsic (industrial robots)
Intrinsic became a separate company in 2021.
iyO (human language)
Natural language recognition that can be integrated into many applications.
Loon (Internet access)
Internet access via baloons. See Project Loon.
Malta (energy storage)
Storing heat in salt and cold in liquid. In 2018, Malta became an independent company.
Mineral (better food)
Adding AI to the agricultural sector to create a more resilient and productive foods system. Mineral incubated at X for five years.
Skip (greater mobility)
Powered clothing that can be ordered at the Skip website.
Tidal (ocean management)
Protecting the ocean and enabling a more sustainable seafood industry.
Verily (global health analysis)
Originally Google Life Sciences, Verily integrates siloed healthcare datasets to enable better insights. In 2015, it became Alphabet's Verily Life Sciences.
Wing (drones)
Autonomous, lightweight delivery drones for merchandise transportation. Moved to Alphabet in 2018.