Google and Ford
will create a joint venture to build self-driving vehicles with
Google’s technology, a huge step by both companies toward a new business
of automated ride sharing, Yahoo Autos has learned.
According to three sources familiar with the plans, the partnership is set to be announced by Ford at the Consumer Electronics Show
in January. By pairing with Google, Ford gets a massive boost in
self-driving software development; while the automaker has been
experimenting with its own systems for years, it only revealed plans
this month to begin testing on public streets in California. Google has
53 test vehicles on the road in California and Texas, with 1.3 million
miles logged in autonomous driving.
By
pairing with Ford, the search-engine giant avoids spending billions of
dollars and several years that building its own automotive manufacturing
expertise would require. Earlier this year, Google co-founder Sergey Brin
said the company was looking for manufacturing partners that would use
the company’s self-driving system, which it believes could someday
eliminate the roughly 33,000 annual deaths on U.S. roads.
While
exact details of the partnership were unclear, it’s understood the
venture would be legally separate from Ford, in part to shield the
automaker from liability concerns. Questions of who will be responsible
for any crashes involving self-driving cars have been seen as a major
hurdle to putting them on the road; earlier this year, Volvo said it would accept responsibility for crashes in autonomous mode, a pledge followed by Google and Mercedes-Benz.
The
deal is understood to be non-exclusive; Google has been talking to
several other automakers for some time about using its self-driving
systems. Most major automakers and several auto parts suppliers are
developing their own self-driving controls as well, with a few—Nissan,
Volvo and Mercedes-Benz among them—promising advanced vehicles for
customer sales by 2020.
Google
declined to comment. Ford spokesman Alan Hall said the automaker works
with many companies on its Ford Smart Mobility plan, adding: “We keep
these discussions private for obvious competitive reasons, and we do not
comment on speculation.”
Last week, Bloomberg reported that Google’s parent firm Alphabet would move the self-driving car business under its own unit,
with a goal of eventually launching a taxi or car-sharing services in
urban areas that would compete with Uber and others. The company has
tested its systems with modified Lexuses and custom-built, low-speed
electric cars assembled by Roush Industries, a Ford supplier.
Google
already has several links to Ford; the head of the self-driving car
project, John Krafcik, worked for 14 years at Ford, including a stint as
head of truck engineering, and several other ex-Ford employees work in
the unit as well. Former Ford chief executive Alan Mulally joined
Google’s board last year.
And
Ford executives have been clear for years that the company was ready to
embrace a future where cars were sold as on-demand services. Ford CEO
Mark Fields has repeatedly said Ford was thinking of itself “as a
mobility company,” and what that would mean for its business.
By: Justin Hyde and Sharon Carty (Yahoo Autos).
For The #FacebookTeam