Google Finally Admits Why Some of Its Projects Flopped

If you want to be successful, you need to fail. That's the takeaway from a SXSW talk today led by Astro Teller, who heads up Google X. In case you didn't know, the project brings to life some of the most insane, futuristic ideas. Google nicknamed it a "moonshot factory" because the company aims to create innovations as ambitious as landing on the moon — innovations 10 times better than anything else out there.

During the session, Teller spoke about some Google ideas that flopped, notably Google Glass. In January, the company announced plans to nix the computer-on-your-face project. Here's why Teller believes it didn't work: When Google first introduced Google Glass to the world, it did so through its Explorer program, which let people test the device and give feedback. But because Google encouraged so much press about it, the general public thought of it as a finished product as opposed to a prototype that could be improved.

Teller also mentioned a flub with Google's self-driving car. Google still plans to release the car in the future, but it failed in another sense. In 2012, the company thought of unveiling the car to the public — after all, the cars had successfully mastered driving on highways without issue. But first, Google let some of its employees test-drive the cars to and from work. Turns out, even though the employees had promised to pay attention while the car drove, they proved completely unreliable as a backup. Google has since taken the steering wheel and brakes out of the car.

Then there's Project Loon, an invention meant to bring Internet service to the world using giant balloons. After some testing, Google X realized the balloons leaked once they passed a certain altitude.

But even these big mess-ups come with lessons to be learned, Teller said. "To make a ton of progress, you have to make a ton of mistakes." He encouraged the crowd to embrace failure, take risks, and try, try, try again, because it will eventually lead to the right answer. And that's something that can inspire us all, whether we're coming up with smart contact lenses or not. So go out and take those moonshots, ya hear?