Photo by Donny Halliwell
By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
The worlds of technology and cars are on a certain collision course and we're seeing various companies looking to partner to create solutions faster and cheaper. Ford and Google are reported to be in talks to put their resources together to build self-driving cars.
Ford has been at the forefront of integrating technology into their vehicles for many years now. First with their partnership with Microsoft for Ford Sync and later on their use of BlackBerry's QNX technologies for various aspects of safety and infotainment.
Automotive News says both parties have been negotiating on a contract manufacturing deal “for a long time.” An announcement, if finalized, could come as early as the week of Jan. 4 during the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. CES is shaping up to be quite the car show with more car manufacturers taking up large pavilions once occupied by tech giants like Microsoft, Motorola, HP and others.
What we can expect is an arms race in getting self-driving car platforms on the road and by working together, giants like Ford and Google can leapfrog any single car or tech company looking to go it alone.
Google has added two veteran Ford executives to its leadership team. Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally joined Google’s board of directors eight days after he retired from the automaker on July 1, 2014. Then in September, Google hired John Krafcik as CEO of the company’s Self-Driving Car Project, so there's definitely something in motion here.
Google and Ford's spinoff will be a separate entity so as to shield the backing companies from liability as well as generate its own identity and narrative. Moreover, Google and Ford have history,the first generation of 100 Google self-driving vehicles were assembled in Detroit by Roush Industries, a company closely aligned with Ford.
Source: AutoNews.com