Ford in talks with Google to build self-driving cars

Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally joined Google’s board of directors eight days after he retired from the automaker on 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.

Ford has been experimenting with its own systems for years and recently revealed its plans to start testing on public streets in California. This has been a sticking point for auto companies, since there are now no regulations in places that are tailored for autonomous vehicles (Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, and Google have each stated, however, that they will accept liability for autonomous vehicle accidents). “Car companies will struggle to keep up with the pace of autonomous technology, while tech companies will face a daunting task in setting up the full production and distribution of an automobile line”.

Experts say it will be many years before fully self-driving cars are actually available to the general public, with a slew of technology, regulatory and legal issues yet to be ironed out.

This would no doubt be a smart move by Google as it would save the company millions, if not billions, trying to manufacture their own cars.

As for Google, Bloomberg reported last week that the company is planning to spin-off its autonomous vehicles unit as a stand-alone business.

And Ford will be the first automaker to test its autonomous Fusion at Mcity, a simulated city created on the campus of the University of MI that provides a safe area to put a vehicle through repeated paces.

If the report on Yahoo Autos is accurate (it quoted several anonymous sources), the joint venture between the technology company and carmaker would be a separate company.

Lead automotive analyst at Gartner, Thilo Koslowski, believes it makes sense for automakers to work with Google, which in turn offers them a better platform to compete with rivals.

Both of these giant companies are known to be investing heavily in the future of automated vehicles, with both making aggressively optimistic claims over the likely release date of this new form of transport.