Google may not manufacture its own cars after all, but rather team up with Ford to build its self-driving vehicles. The two companies will announce that they are pairing up to make piloted cars during next month’s Consumer Electronics Show, Yahoo Autos reports.
Citing three unnamed sourced close to the scheme, Yahoo Autos states the joint venture will be a spinoff, shielding at least Ford from liability concerns. This would keep Ford from making a similar promise to Volvo’s, which vowed to accept full responsibility for its cars when in self-driving mode.
Google would gain Ford’s manufacturing capabilities, while Ford would benefit from the tech giant’s self-driving software development.
This comes on the heels of a Ford announcement that it is now licensed to operate autonomous cars in California, joining a handful of other companies. It also follows another report that Google is planning to spin off its self-driving tech into a new Alphabet company to compete with Uber with a fleet of piloted vehicles.
Although that report is still unverified, the Ford partnership could add validity.
If the pairing is indeed true, the move could signal that people inside Google realized that manufacturing a car from scratch was unfeasible — or at least far too costly.
This likely won’t be the only pairing Google makes with a carmaker. Just as it has done with smartphone manufacturers, the company could become the brains behind all kinds of self-driving cars while it leaves the hardware to someone else.
Your move, Apple.