The Pacifica Hybrid minivans will join the Google auto fleet later this year, and according to FCA will more than double the current number of vehicles.
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Engineers from both companies will work out of a facility in southeastern MI to prepare and start testing self-driving minivans. FCA is designing the minivans so that Google can easily stick in computers and other components necessary to make these vehicles able to drive themselves.
Google will work with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to modify one hundred 2017 Pacifica minivans for the purposes of expanding the road testing for Google’s self-driving technology.
Fiat Chrysler which has lagged bigger, richer rivals like Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co.in the development of self-driving cars will welcome the chance to test Google’s technology. Google’s self-driving auto team will test the autonomous minivans on their private test track in California before they hit the open roads.
In February, NPR spoke with Chris Urmson, the technical director of Google’s self-driving vehicle project about the benefits of making self-driving cars a reality.
Most recently, Google produced its own autonomous pod vehicle, which has now been permitted to test on public roads in California. We’re assuming Google and Fiat Chrysler worked that stuff out.
The deal is boost for FCA too, with its CEO Sergio Marchionne making no secret of his interest in partnering with technology companies to make its cars more appealing to buyers without the expense of investing in its own autonomous vehicle project.
The collaboration marks the first time Google is working directly with an automaker on its seven-year-old self-driving vehicle program.
Fiat won’t license any of Google’s self-driving technology, spokeswoman Dianna Gutierrez said.
Marchionne hinted during Fiat Chrysler’s first-quarter earnings call last week that the automaker was interested in aligning with either Google or Apple, Reuters said. A potential partnership with that automaker was being mulled around, Bloomberg said, but it ultimately never came to fruition, as there were apparently disagreements over ownership of technology and data.
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Now we just have to wait who is first to market with a fully autonomous vehicle, known in industry parlance as Level 3 (the driver hands off control but the AI hands it back during the trip depending on the conditions) and Level 4 (the self-driving tech can engage for an entire trip).
