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Ford Might Partner Up with Google to Build Driverless Cars

It is well known that Google shifted its attention to OEM partners to develop the technology needed for building its own self-driving cars. Rumor has it that Ford Motor Co. might team up with the Internet giant to help it accomplish this goal.
Ford Google 1 photo
Photo: simplyrides.com
Few details are known about this move, but it seems that the two companies have been in talks for a long time now, and they might make the big announcement during the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, when a bunch of important people from both companies will organize a press conference.

Neither company commented about this possible partnership, but Ford’s spokesman Alan Hall neither confirmed nor denied it when he stated that his company works with different partners all over the world, and they prefer to keep these discussions private for a number of reasons.

An important fact is that if the agreement is signed, it will be a non-exclusive one, so each company will have the possibility to work with another automaker without affecting their deal.

Firstly, this deal might not be so unexpected because, as we all know, Google already has two important figures from the Detroit-based company in its team. Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally joined Google’s board of directors eight days after he retired from the automaker in July 2014, and after a month, John Krafcik was hired as CEO of the company’s Self-Driving Car Project, after 14 years working for Ford.

Secondly, since he launched the “Ford Smart Mobility” plan at the beginning of 2015, Ford’s CEO Mark Fields has stated on some occasions that they could work with Google, Apple or any other tech giant to put a self-driving car on the streets as soon as possible.

In a recent interview, Fields said about a possible partnership that “I don’t think we can be so arrogant to think that we’re going to do everything on our own, and we’re going to do something better than maybe a company that does that 24/7. For us, partnerships are really important.

This deal, if signed, will be a very important step for both Google and Ford. On the one hand, such a move would put Google in a very high position on the market after announcing that it intends to put its technology into automated taxis as a rival for Uber and Lyft. On the other hand, Ford would make some important steps forward too, as it recently announced that it would test its fully-autonomous Fusion Hybrid models in California.

According to Automotive News, this isn’t the first time Ford and Google team up. They are said to be in talks since 2012, while one year earlier they had worked together on technology that would help vehicles learn customers’ driving habits and get them to destinations more efficiently.
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