The Future of Auto Transportation

Big news over the past week concerning the future of auto transportation with Google and Ford pairing up.

According to three sources familiar with the plans, the partnership is set to be announced by Ford at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. By pairing with Google, Ford gets a massive boost in self-driving software development; while the automaker has been experimenting with its own systems for years, it only revealed plans this month to begin testing on public streets in California. Google has 53 test vehicles on the road in California and Texas, with 1.3 million miles logged in autonomous driving. 

By pairing with Ford, the search-engine giant avoids spending billions of dollars and several years that building its own automotive manufacturing expertise would require. Earlier this year, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said the company was looking for manufacturing partners that would use the company’s self-driving system, which it believes could someday eliminate the roughly 33,000 annual deaths on U.S. roads.

 This is terrific news, as it is indicative of the kinds of partnerships needed to create the supply ecosystem for the future of transportation, and the speed at which this is happening.

We continuing our work to pull together all the stakeholders from public and private sectors so as we can all work together to orchestrate the design, develop and delivery of the best possible transportation solutions and experiences for urban regions and their constituents.