Honda and Google in talks over self-driving technology

Honda has officially revealed that it is in talks with Google's new self-driving car division - Waymo, for a deal that would equip some of the Japanese automaker's vehicles with the tech giant's self-driving technology. The talks are currently for research levels and not for production vehicles.

If the deal is finalised, Honda will provide Google a few vehicles that will be modified to run on the latter's self-driving system. These vehicles will then be a part of the testing fleet of Waymo, which is currently undergoing public road tests in four US cities.

Google already has a deal with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), which will be supplying 100 Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid minivans. These minivans will be equipped with Google's self-driving system, including the required sensors, telematics systems and dedicated computers, and will be inducted into Google's test fleet by early next year. General Motors and Ford had also approached Google for a similar deal, though things didn't finalise with both these carmakers.

Google announced the formation of its stand-alone self-driving arm - Waymo last week. The tech giant had also revealed that it would now be focusing on collaborating with other automakers to provide autonomous technologies in conventional cars, rather than building its own dedicated self-driving cars.

Source: Bloomberg