Rumors seem to suggest that Ford Motors (NASDAQ: F) and Alphabet Inc, the conglomerate of companies including Google and Nest Labs, have allied in order to develop a self-driving car that would be announced in January at the CES.
If the announcement occurs it will be the beginning of a new way of living where vehicles will be like an extension of our homes since we won’t need to spend time using a steering wheel to get to a place by car.
The international Consumer Technology Association (CES) will take place in Las Vegas since January 6 to January 9, the exposition is the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technology, the CES wrote. This year more than 3,600 companies from around the world, including developers and suppliers of consumer technology hardware, will exhibit their products and services for more than 150K attendees.
The news were first announced in AutoNews, they declared Ford was in talks with Google, so it is not sure if they are planning to develop a new vehicle for the company lead by Sundar Pichai or if they will create a standard production car equipped with sensors and computers needed to guide itself.
Both companies are being discreet about the announcements. A spokesman for Google said to AutoNews the company would not comment on speculation, however they previously affirmed they were talking to automakers.
On the other hand, a Ford spokesman, Alan Hall, did not confirmed or denied the alliance, he said Ford worked with a lot of tech companies all over the world and they kept all in private for obvious competitive reasons, he stressed.
Ford shares increased by 3.28% since AutoNews published the rumors. Hours later Yahoo Autos published new information saying they had three sources who knew about the deal and reported that both companies were going to firm a non-exclusive agreement so Google would later negotiate with another car designer.
A similar phenomenon occurred with Nexus phones since Google allied with other companies such as LG or Motorola to produce the devices.
Earlier in December Ford’s executives made a statement about the integration of new technologies within their products, Mark Fields, CEO of the company said:
“It’s not only about what are the things that are going to be core to us but who are we going to partner with, in some cases. Because I don’t think we can just 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.”
Regulations to control self-driving cars in California
Last week in California regulators announced preliminary regulations for autonomous-driving cars. These will be the first regulations dealing with self-driving technology and they are a necessary step to determine if the technology is safe before any of the vehicles can be sold to consumers.
The proposed rules lay out a variety of requirements for manufacturers that want to offer autonomous driving to the public. Among other safety-related requirements, the cars must have a steering wheel. Also, cars will have to be able to detect cyber attacks or unauthorized intrusions and include an override system that gives the human operator control of the vehicle if such an attack occurred.
Source: Autonews