Taking the kids to soccer practice in the future might still involve minivans, but mom and dad won’t necessarily be driving them. Rumor has it that Fiat Chrysler and Google are teaming up to develop an autonomous vehicle based on the carmaker’s Pacifica minivans.
The twosome are planning to make about a dozen self-driving prototypes in the first phase of their team project to make driverless vehicles, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
Fiat will equip its new Pacifica, which will also be available as a plug-in hybrid, with Google technology starting this year, the sources said. That won’t mean the companies can’t date other people, however, as they’ll be allowed to work on driverless tech products with others if they choose.
That being said, Google hasn’t worked with a major automaker since it launched its own self-driving program in 2014.
The insiders cited said an agreement could be signed as early as today, with production starting later this year. Reps for the companies didn’t comment to Bloomberg.
Fiat, Google Plan Partnership on Self-Driving Minivans [Bloomberg]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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