Google and Ford are planning to develop and build self-driving vehicles together in a joint venture and will announce the deal at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, says a report in Yahoo Autos. The partnership would represent a major collaboration between two of the biggest names in the tech and automotive industries.
A Google spokesperson said the company had no comment. TechCrunch has also contacted Ford.
According to Yahoo Autos’ sources, the deal is not exclusive, which means Google would be free to work with other automakers who are interested in its self-driving car technology.
Being the first company to strike a deal with Google, however, may give Ford an edge over rivals, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volvo, and Tesla, that are also working on self-driving cars and eager to get them to market. During the last CES in January 2014, Ford chief executive offier Mark Fields said that he believes somebody will introduce autonomous vehicles within the next five years.
In turn, Google gets a partner to help it handle the expense and hassle of actually manufacturing autonomous vehicles, especially if it plans to make cars available for personal ownership as well as transportation systems. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has said that the company plans to work with “top-tier OEMs” instead of keeping everything in-house and will find partners to build cars. – Techcrunch