Ford and Google are negotiating a partnership for building autonomous cars, according to the latest reports.
An anonymous source with knowledge on the matter talked to Reuters, saying that the two sides have been talking for months now, and that they are still discussing the precise framework of their potential partnership.
Google has been developing their own autonomous driving software for quite some time now. The Silicon Valley giant could benefit largely by joining forces with an established car maker such as Ford in order to use their automotive know-how and Ford could use Google’s knowledge in self-driving software.
Both companies have refused to comment on the story, with the source saying that Ford’s Chief Executive Mark Fields to have met with Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin earlier this month to ‘discuss the status of the talks’.
It’s worth noting that Ford’s former CEO Alan Mulally is now a director at Google while John Krafcik who is the head of Google’s Autonomous Driving division was also working for 14 years at Ford.
If the report turns out to be real, the fully self-driving car could be a reality sooner than we thought.
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