As various giant tech and automobile firms rush to create their self-driving cars, reports are coming in that Ford and Google will partner up to develop an autonomous vehicle that would leapfrog the entire competition.
NewsFactor reported that the partnership might be announced in the CES 2016 event in Las Vegas next month. However, there are no official confirmations that the two companies are going to work together. Google only said that it is negotiating with "many different companies."
Yahoo News gained in depth information on the matter through three sources familiar with the plan. Ford has been experimenting with their own self-driving technologies, but it has only revealed this month that it plans to start testing their cars on the streets of California. Meanwhile, Google has been running 53 test vehicles in California and Texas. It has already logged a total of 1.3 million miles of autonomous driving.
In a report by Automotive News, Ford spokesman Alan Hall said, "We work with a lot of tech companies all over the world. We keep these discussions private for obvious competitive reasons and we do not comment on speculation."
If the partnership will push through, Google will be able to save billions of dollars and a lot of time from manufacturing its own autonomous vehicles. The search engine company co-founder Sergey Brin said Google was looking for car manufacturers that could use its self-driving technology. Google believes that its system could one day eliminate the 33,000 annual deaths caused by car accidents in the US.
According to the people familiar with the issue, the deal is non-exclusive, which allows Google to talk to other automakers for this deal. Most prominent auto manufacturers and auto parts suppliers are creating their own self-driving technologies. Some of these brands are Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, and Nissan. All these companies promise to sell advanced vehicles by 2020.
