Google, Fiat Chrysler Ink Deal on Self-Driving Minivans

Updated at 5:41 p.m.

AUBURN HILLS, MI – About 100 Pacifica minivans will be outfitted with Google’s self-driving car technology under a deal inked Tuesday by the technology giant and Auburn Hills-base Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, according to media reports.

Google is sharing the secrets of its technology — which has tested on modifications to Lexus SUVs by Google staffers and a few two-person prototypes — with a major automaker under the terms of the agreement.

Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne told USA TODAY that technology companies like Google, which have special expertise, “are not my enemy.”

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“These are people who will help us shape the next phase of the automotive industry,” he 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.

The agreement is a win for Fiat Chrysler, a late arrival to the next wave in the automotive industry’s evolution, because gets on-the-ground training from San Francisco-based Google and what is involved in transforming a standard minivan into an autonomous vehicle. The partnership with Google gives Fiat Chrysler the infrastructure needed to mass produce its driverless vehicles.

John Krafcik, the CEO of Google’s self-driving car project, said in January that such a partnership was necessary to bring autonomous vehicles to the market.

"It takes many parts and partners to make a self-driving car," Krafcik said when he spoke at the Automotive News World Congress, an industry conference. "You can't do it alone."

Prototypes produced under the partnership could be ready by year’s end.

Image Credit: 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid via Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – North America