Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Google’s self-driving car project are in advanced talks to form a technical partnership. The talks were confirmed on Thursday by a person familiar with the discussions.
The partnership would be the first to match an automaker with Google’s seven-year-old autonomous car project, which is now part of the so-called X lab at Alphabet Inc, Google’s parent company.
Details have not been revealed, but Google has repeatedly said it does not intend to manufacture self-driving cars and would prefer to license its technology to carmakers.
Photo: AP
Google has been testing versions of self-driving cars on highways since 2009 and on city streets since 2014. It has a fleet of Lexus SUVs specially outfitted with autonomous software, as well as a pod-like prototype vehicle it designed.
“We want to partner to bring self-driving to all the vehicles in the world,” Google cofounder and Alphabet president Sergey Brin told media at a self-driving car event last spring.
Last fall, Google hired John Krafcik, an auto industry veteran and former executive at Ford Motor Co and Hyundai Motor Co, to be the chief executive of its self-driving car project.
Fiat Chrysler — which has lagged bigger, richer rivals like Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co (GM) in the development of self-driving cars — might welcome the chance to test Google’s technology.
The Italian-American automaker also has manufacturing expertise and factories that Google lacks.
Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has been vocal about seeking a partner to share the cost of research and development. However, other automakers, including GM, have so far rebuffed him. A tie-up with Google would help his company leapfrog competitors in the race to develop self-driving cars.
Google has set a goal of having self-driving cars in the public’s hands by 2020.
In related news, Chinese search engine giant Baidu Inc (百度) is planning to produce driverless cars by 2020, chief executive Robin Li (李彥宏) said on Thursday.
“We believe that the automobile is the next major computing platform,” Li told analysts during a conference call. “We’re on track now to deploy autonomous vehicles powered by Baidu technology in 2018 with production at scale by 2020.”
Baidu reported that first-quarter revenue reached US$2.45 billion, up 31.2 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to a statement released on Thursday. However, net profit slid 18.9 percent year-on-year to US$308.1 million for the quarter, the statement said.
The company expects revenue in the second quarter to range from US$3.12 billion to US$3.19 billion in what could be an increase of more than 28 percent from the previous year.
Additional reporting by AFP
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
RSS