Google just went through a massive reorganization — here are all of the wild projects it's working on

From driverless cars to robotics, Google has been pushing into new areas for years. But on Monday it made its move official by completely reorganizing its business structure.

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The tech giant announced in a press release that it had created a new public holding company called Alphabet, which is now the parent company of all of its businesses.

The new Google, which consists of search, ads, maps, apps, Android, Chrome and YouTube, is a subsidiary under Alphabet. Google Ventures and Google Capital will also be managed separately.

Google self driving
Eric Risberg/AP

Even Google’s top secret lab Google X, which develops futuristic technologies like its driverless car project, will be managed independently.

Here’s a look at the wild businesses and projects that started under Google, but will now be run as their own operation.

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Google Fiber wants to bring super-fast broadband to the world.

Google Fiber
Google fiber trucks George Frey/Reuters

The super-fast internet provider Google Fiber will now be managed as its own business. Google originally launched this service in 2010, but in 2012 it got some validation as a real business when Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said that it was not just an experiment, but instead as a real business.

Google Fiber currently serves Austin, Texas; Provo, Utah; and Kansas City, Missouri.

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Nest is Google's take on the smart home.

Nest
Business Insider / Jillian D'Onfro

The smart home company Nest will also operate as a separate business under Alphabet.

Nest is primarily known for its smart thermostat, which learns a user’s behavior to automatically adjust and save money. Google purchased Nest last year for $3.2 billion. Nest also makes a smart fire detector and a smart home security camera.

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Calico is a company that wants to "cure death."

syringe biotech
ZaldyImg/Flickr

Calico is a biotech company Google established in 2013 that focuses on life extension and diseases associated with aging. The company aims to lengthen human lives by up to 100 years. Under the new structure it will continue to be ran as its own business.

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Google X will continue its work on self-driving cars.

prototype early
Google

For the past four years, Google X has been working on the future of autonomous vehicles with the help of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Four US states have already passed laws allowing driverless cars, and as of June 2015 Google-powered driverless vehicles had collectively logged over 1 million miles. Google X has its own prototype design of a driverless car that doesn’t have a steering wheel or foot pedals. The futuristic vehicle is on track to be made available to the public by 2020.

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Wing will deliver packages with drones.

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Google

Google X’s Project Wing wants to replace your friendly neighborhood mailman with a drone. The project has been working in stealth for the past two years, and it was shown publicly to the world for the first time in August of 2014.

By all indications, Project Wing is still in early stages of development. Google had to scrap its drone design for a new one earlier this year because it was too difficult to control.

Google's smart contact lenses can detect glucose levels in humans.

smart contact lens
Google

The Life Sciences division within Google X is working on the future of medicine. Led by a team of neuroscientists and genetics experts, one of the products being worked on is a smart contact lens with a glucose sensor and a wireless chip that aims to help people living with diabetes by measuring sugar levels in their tears.

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A spoon that can counteract Parkinson's disease.

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Lift Labs

Last September, Google bought Lift Labs and incorporated it into Google X. Lift Labs had developed a spoon with sensors that detect and alleviates nearly 70% of tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease. Practical applications for the technology could also include image stabilization in cameras to compensate for shaky hands.

Renewable energy from airborne wind turbines.

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Google

Green energy startup Makani Power was purchased by Google and folded into Google X last May. So far, there’s a working prototype of an airborne wind turbine, or “energy kite," that Google thinks could be the future of renewable energy. Drone maker Titan Aerospace was bought by Google in April to likely aid in Makani’s efforts.

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Giant balloons that deliver internet access.

loon
Google

Project Loon is a particularly ambitious effort by Google X to deliver internet access to the two thirds of the word’s population that’s still disconnected. It’s essentially a network of balloons in the stratosphere that link together and form nets of coverage for rural areas where traditional ways of delivery internet access aren’t available.

Thirty balloons were launched in 2013 above New Zealand’s South Island for the first pilot test of the service. Google is continuing to expand its testing to form a "ring of uninterrupted connectivity at latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere.”

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Robots for industrial applications and more.

Boston Dynamics Atlas
Bipedal humanoid robot "Atlas", primarily developed by the American robotics company Boston Dynamics, practises tai chi during a news conference at the University of Hong Kong October 17, 2013. Siu Chiu / Reuters

Google bought the Boston-based robotics company Boston Dynamics in 2013.

Boston Dynamics makes robots that can do all sorts of things, including carrying equipment for the military. Shortly after the acquisition, the division was run by Andy Rubin, the guy who started Android. But Rubin left Google in October of 2014.

We haven't heard much about Google's plans for robotics since, but it's most likely Google will want to use them for industrial applications.

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Google Glass has gone back to the drawing board.

Google Glass
Google+ / Google Glass

Google Glass as we knew it is pretty much dead. After failing to launch a consumer version of the device, Google decided to put Tony Fadell, the executive in charge of Nest, in charge of Glass too.

The next version of glass, if we ever see it, will probably be targeted for industrial and other business applications. Don't expect to see people roaming the streets with Glass any time soon.

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A health-tracking wristband.

Fitbit Flex 4 x 3
This is a FitBit, not the health band Google is working on. Amazon

Google announced in June that it's working on a health-tracking wristband that can monitor a patient's vitals in real time.

The project isn't even close to completion though. We don't even know everything it can do or what it'll look like.

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A pill that can detect cancer cells.

Cancer cells
jovan vitanovski/Shutterstock

Google X is working on an ingestible pill that can detect cancer cells in patients, the company announced in October 2014 at The Wall Street Journal's technology conference.

Like most Google X projects, the pill isn't even close to completion.

On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.

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