In the rapidly evolving technology crossover between automakers and Silicon Valley, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said there is still a high degree of uncertainty as to what will be the ultimate outcome.
WINDSOR, ON - In the ever-evolving technology crossover between automakers and Silicon Valley, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said there is still a high degree of uncertainty as to the ultimate outcome.
"I think it's too early in this process to try and make the call of who's going to end up with the winning solution," Marchionne told reporters Friday at FCA's Windsor Assembly Plant. "So we are exploring with people who are willing to explore with us, who are willing to allow us into their world."
Marchionnne was commenting on the automaker's recently announced partnership with Google, in which the latter will test its self-driving car program in about 100 2017 Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans.
Marchionne said the new minivan has the capacity to handle being equipped with such technology. He said it's one of the reasons the technology giant apparently reached out to FCA about the partnership.
Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed, and there is no licensing agreement preventing either company from working with someone else, the Associated Press reported.
The minivans will "ultimately" be outfitted at FCA's Windsor Assembly Plant, where the Pacifica Hybrid will launch in the fourth quarter of this year, Marchionne said.
The collaboration marks the first time Google is working directly with an automaker on its seven-year-old self-driving car program.
Marchionne said the partnership includes "a very clear objective and very clear timeline."
"What develops from here, we'll see," he said.
And he said he is not leery of partnering with cash-heavy Silicon Valley companies, but will not go all-in with them, either.
"Making unequivocal bets with companies who are in the space today and effectively precluding development with others is a very dangerous bet, at least in our view," he said. "The fashionable thing to say is we're no longer making cars we're in the mobility business, we're in transportation. These are very elevated, very lofty ideals."
He said he tends to share what they mean in terms of direction but added that, "I got to make payroll on Friday."
In any case, the advent of self-driving cars is inevitable, and Marchionne sees the technology as becoming widespread sooner than later.
"I see this as having tremendous use in real life," he said of the self-driving cars. "Some people are talking about 20 years, I think we'll have (widespread autonomous driving) here in the next 5 years."
And Marchionne said he's ridden in Google's self-driving cars a few times already.
He said there is "an unsettling feeling initially when you get in because you're not in control."
"But the robot does it well. It does it really well."