Fiat Chrysler to partner Google for Self-Driving cars

United States: Fiat Chrysler and Google are believed to be in the last stages of discussion for their much awaited technical partnership for development of the self-driving car project.

However, if the talks are complete, this partnership will be the first successful attempt by the automaker to indulge with Google’s 7-year-old autonomous car project. The project is now believed to be a part of X lab at Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google.

According to Google, the company has no intentions to make self-driving cars but in turn they will provide the licence for the technology to car makers who could make the best use of this. The company has been testing few versions of this concept cars on highways since 2009 and owns a fleet of Lexus SUVs that have been specially fitted with this software for trial.

The Italian-American automaker is enabled with expertise in automobile manufacturing. However, Google has set a timeline for this project and plans to provide the self-driving cars to the public by 2020.

According to a recent report published by TechSci Research, “Global Autonomous Car Technology Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2035 – ADAS, Semi-Autonomous, Fully-Autonomous”, global autonomous car technology market is expected to witness a CAGR of over 10% through 2035. The market is currently dominated by ADAS segment, which is expected to maintain its dominance over the next twenty years as well. The dominance of this segment can be attributed to anticipated increase in government regulations pertaining to integration of ADAS technologies in passenger cars. Further, semi-autonomous car technology is expected to witness robust growth over the next ten years, owing to anticipated decline in its average selling price coupled with rising volume sales. Region-wise, North America has emerged as the largest contributor in the market for autonomous car technology, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Middle East North Africa (MENA).

As per TechSci Research, with completion of this move the demand for self-driving cars is expected to escalate in the market. The partnership of Google with Fiat Chrysler will in turn facilitate increase in the market share of the automobile company in the premium car segment. The new technology is further anticipated to encourage other leading automobile companies to invest in this concept in the coming years.