Internet services and products company Google has approached top automakers and assembled a team of suppliers to expedite bringing self-driving cars to market by 2020, reports Reuters.

Google unveiled its first self-driving prototype car in May. The prototype was built in Detroit by Roush, an engineering and specialty manufacturing company.

It was not clear at that time if Google planned to build its own self-driving vehicles or act as the provider of software and systems to automobile manufacturers. In December, Chris Urmson, director of Google's self-driving car project, told the Wall Street Journal, "We don't particularly want to become a car maker. We are talking [with] and looking for partners."

According to Urmson, the Internet giant is talking to the biggest auto manufacturers on the planet because "they've got a lot to offer."

Jon Lauckner, GM's chief technology officer, told Reuters on Monday that GM is considering a partnership with Google to develop self-driving cars.

Urmson fully expects that the first Google autonomous vehicle will be production-ready within five years while another Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla Motors Inc., disagrees.

Tesla Motors CEO Musk, who has had discussions with Google about autonomous driving technology, said Tuesday at the Automotive News World Congress conference that the lack of concise federal regulations regarding self-driving cars could delay their market availability until 2022 or 2023.

Urmson said his Google associates "don't see any particular regulatory hurdles."

In an effort to avoid federal regulation hiccups, Google has regularly briefed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the top U.S. auto regulator, from the start of their autonomous vehicles project.

In addition to partnering with automakers, Urmson said Google is working with auto parts suppliers Robert Bosch, Continental AG, LG Electronics and transmission maker ZF Group on developing self-driving systems and components. Google's prototype cars use microprocessors created by Nvidia Corporation, a Silicon Valley chipmaker that also supplies Mercedes-Benz and other car companies.

In the near future Google will start deploying a test fleet of fully functioning pod-like self-driving cars.

The no-frills look of the Google self-driving prototypes are "a practical, near-term testing platform" that will evolve over time, according to Urmson.