Google Pairs With Ford To Build Self-Driving Cars
Google Pairs With Ford To Build Self-Driving Cars
Justin Hyde and Sharon Carty, Yahoo Autos
December 21, 2015
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.
Comments
Post a Comment