Google's self-driving car team hires dedicated counsel

• Continuing a move toward actual company status, Google's (GOOG +1.5%, GOOGL +1.5%) self-driving car project has hired a dedicated general counsel.
• Kevin Vosen has been tapped for the role and will begin late this month, Recode reports. He's chief legal officer with environmental data analysis firm The Climate Corp. (started by ex-Googlers).
• The project is still part of skunk-works lab X, but has hinted that it is heading toward separate company status under the Alphabet umbrella.