FCA has partnered with Google’s Self-Driving Car Project to integrate the tech giant’s autonomous driving software into 100 new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans, as part of an expansion to Google’s test program.
The collaboration – the first between Google’s autonomous car research program and a major automaker – will more than double the size of Google’s fleet of self-driving vehicles.
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The joint effort will be led by teams from both companies working together in a lab in southeastern Michigan. However, the first tests of the self-driving Pacificas will be conducted on Google’s test track in California.
Google has said it recognizes it is not an automaker, and sees the partnership as essential to its plans to eventually produce and market autonomous vehicles on a larger scale. However, it has not ruled out partnering with other automakers besides FCA in the future.
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According to a report in Bloomberg, Google had initially approached General Motors about a partnership, but the two parties couldn’t reach an agreement regarding who would own the technology installed in the autonomous cars and the data collected.
Bloomberg‘s sources say FCA is also keeping its options open regarding partnering with other technology companies on self-driving vehicle systems in the future.
