Google to team up with Ford

If the rumours are true, it doesn’t look like Google will be manufacturing their own cars but that doesn’t mean their self-driving cars won’t hit the streets in the near future.

Instead, it has been reported that they will be teaming up with Ford to build self-driving cars.

Since Google started testing self-driving cars, the search giant has logged over a million miles on the streets of San Francisco, California and Austin, Texas meaning it will soon be ready for the public.

It has been said that Google and Ford will be announcing their partnership and their plans to build self-driving cars during next month’s Consumer Electronics show.

This partnership would give Google Ford’s manufacturing capabilities (in order to mass produce their vehicles) and Ford would gain Google’s self-driving software, potentially putting them at the forefront of the self-driving car market.

This news comes just after Fords announcement last Tuesday where they said they were now able to operate autonomous cars in California. Ford enrolled in the California Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program, which means they will be allowed to start testing their self-driving cars joining only a few other major car manufacturers.

Another rumour was also leaked last week regarding Google’s plan to launch an Uber competitor under their new parent company Alphabet, with a fleet of self-driving cars.

Google hasn’t stated that these plans are true but their partnership with Ford does add validity to that project.

Google has denied accusations for quite some time, insisting they have no interest in manufacturing cars, so it is highly likely that Google will be looking to partner up with one of the leading car manufacturers.

However, it is very unlikely that Google will just partner up with one car manufacturer. Instead, just as they have done with smartphone manufacturers, they will share their self-driving car software across multiple car companies and leave the hardware to them.

So we may be seeing all kinds of self-driving cars in the near future.