Earlier this week, news came out that Google may be close to graduating their self-driving car project from X, and into their own company. Now according to Dow Jones, it appears that Google is in talks with Fiat Chrysler about a “technical partnership” with their self-driving car project. The report stated that they are in “late stage talks” which means that they are close to cutting a deal and we should hear more very soon from the two companies.
This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard Google being in talks with an auto-maker for their self-driving car project. A few months ago, there was a report that Ford was in talks with Google, to create a brand new company that would build some self-driving cars. And now it looks like Fiat Chrysler is part of the talks. One thing is for sure, Google wants to work with an American auto-maker – even though Chrysler is owned by Fiat, which is not American.
Chrysler is also one of the few auto-makers out there that have not yet talked about self-driving cars, or made anything public about testing them. Ford has been testing their own versions across Michigan, and GM has a track in Southeast Michigan where they are testing various models for self-driving. Having Chrysler work with Google could be a big deal for Fiat and have them jump feet first into the self-driving space.
Google has been working on their self-driving cars for quite some time. They have expressed interest in not just selling these cars, but creating an Uber competitor, basically. Where these cars would be ride-sharing. And instead of calling for an Uber, you’d be calling for one of their self-driving cars. It would negate many reasons that people buy cars these days – especially where it should be much cheaper than buying a car. GM has also expressed interest in doing the same thing, and even bought up parts of Sidecar after it went out of business, due to the fact that it couldn’t compete with the likes of Uber and Lyft. It’s starting to become a pretty interesting time for the auto industry, particularly with self-driving cars or autonomous cars.