Google has been present at the Detroit auto-show, showing its self-driving car prototype to attendees, still overwhelmed by the amount of action at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) two weeks ago by the automotive industry.

Chris Urmson, director of Google's self-driving car project, has revealed several automotive companies have partnered with Google's self-driving platform, including General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Daimler and Volkswagen.

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Google is also preparing to work on non-conventional automotive companies to make its self-driving platform, this may include mapping, object recognition, artificial intelligence and media companies.

It is unclear if Google will work on cars themselves, or become the overwatching software owner, like on Android and Chrome OS. Google might launch a 'Nexus' style self-driving car, similar to its Nexus phone, tablet and Chromebook Pixel.

Google recently hired Roush Enterprises to build 150 prototype self-driving cars, seen on the photo (above). These have been road-tested and Google wants to deploy them into more states, to get more feedback on the self-driving platform.

Even though several automotive companies have backed Google's platform, Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz are noticeably absent from the list. The three companies all showed off self-driving at CES 2015, but did not mention Google's self-driving platform.

Going their own way might work for the automotive companies in the short-term, but Google has shown proficiency over almost every other software company in multi-platform battles, and self-driving cars are all about software.

Tesla Motors is also absent from Google's partner list, but the electric car manufacturer has already shown piloting services on the Model S, pointing to Tesla also going its own way.

The automotive industry has fully embraced self-driving, but most manufacturers are hedging their bets on at least a 2020 rollout, if not longer. Google is a bit more excited, hoping for tests in 2017, but the company is notoriously slow when it comes to innovative ideas actually hitting the market, case in point: Google Glass.

TagsSelf-Driving Car, General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Daimler, volkswagen, Detroit auto-show