The ever-advancing quest to be at the front of the pack in the self-driving car industry has taken another intriguing turn with the report Google and Ford are establishing a partnership.
According to a report on Yahoo Autos, the two iconic companies’ partnership will be announced at the Consumer Electronic Show, scheduled January 6-9, 2016 in Las Vegas.
Google has been experimenting with driverless cars for several years. Dozens of the pod-shaped vehicles are commonly seen on on public roads in Mountain View, California, and in Austin, Texas. The two cities are Google hotbeds, the former location is the technology giant’s hometown.
Ford is among many carmakers, including Tesla, Volvo, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz that have been working on self-driving car technology for several years.
If the report on Yahoo Autos is accurate (it quoted several anonymous sources), the joint venture between the technology company and carmaker would be a separate company. It would use Google technology and Ford engineering.
The report noted the separate company would be established partly to protect Ford from potentially liability concerns with the new cars.
The partnership would represent Google’s first success enlisting an established car-maker to adopt its technology. The former recently hired a Ford veteran to head up its autonomous car group. Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Ford, joined the company’s board of directors in 2014.
Car industry experts predict driverless cars won’t be available to the general public for several years.
Article Last Updated: December 21, 2015.
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