VW in talks with Ford Argo AI on self-driving electric cars

An
Uber driverless Ford Fusion drives down Smallman Street in
Pittsburgh.
Jeff Swensen/Getty
Images

• 
  Volkswagen is in talks with Ford
  to potentially invest in the automakers Argo AI self-driving
  unit, Bloomberg News reports.
• Ford
  has been investing heavily in autonomous driving and mobility
  companies. 
• A partnership could help both companies shrug
  reputations that they’re behind when it comes to the future of
  transportation. 

Volkswagen
and Ford
are nearing a “framework agreement” to partner on electric and
self-driving cars, Bloomberg News reported, in a deal that could
put the German automaker on par with its American competitors
like Alphabet’s Waymo, GM’s Cruise and Tesla.

People familiar with the discussion tell Bloomberg’s Christoph Rauwald and Keith
Naughton that VW is considering a “significant”
investment in Argo AI, the self-driving unit acquired by Ford in February 2017 for
$1 billion. The company is hoping to commercialize its
autonomous driving technology by 2021.

A partnership between the two old-guard automakers could help
them advance in the nascent self-driving space, a
capital-intensive are that is causing headaches for manufacturers
throughout the world. Both companies have garnered reputations
for being behind younger tech peers.

Read more: 
Ford
is buying e-scooter startup Spin

Ford did not respond to a request for comment from Business
Insider. A spokesperson for the company told Bloomberg that it’s
in talks with VW for “potential collaboration” across multiple
business areas.

Bloomberg’s report comes on the heels of a story from Reuters, which said last month that
the two were in “exploratory talks” to co-produce self-driving
and electric vehicles in a wide-ranging partnership.

Ford has been rapidly investing in other mobility and other
‘future of transportation’ ventures, in addition to Argo. Last
week, it bought San Francisco-based scooter startup Spin for an
undisclosed amount, and plans to invest $200 million
into the company’s expansion to more than 100 cities across the
US. It also purchased the shuttle-bus service Chariot in 2016 for $65
million.

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