Airbnb exec joins Google

A top executive from Airbnb has joined Google as the director of the tech giant’s self-driving project. Shaun Stewart, who set up Airbnb’s holiday rentals business, will help to commercialize the technology. Stewart was hired following the the departure of Chris Urmson earlier this month, who was the chief technical officer of the project. Urmson was also the project’s team leader and chief public spokesman until Google hired ex-Hyundai executive John Krafcik last year as the project’s chief executive. Urmson predicted last year that Google’s self-driving technology would be ready for production by 2020. The tech company has expanded to four cities over the 12 months and currently has almost 60 test vehicles on the road.