Reports: Ford, VW Near Deal on Autonomous Cars
Talks between Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG on autonomous vehicles could culminate with a comprehensive partnership involving Ford’s Argo AI unit as early as next month.
Talks between Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG on autonomous vehicles could culminate with a comprehensive partnership involving Ford’s Argo AI unit as early as next month, according to multiple media reports.
Ford characterizes the negotiations as “ongoing.” VW declined to comment, but it hinted about a potential deal with Argo earlier this week.

In January, Ford and VW announced plans to collaborate on light-duty commercial vehicles and midsize pickup trucks, with Ford producing the vehicles for both brands by early 2022. They have since continued to discuss other potential ventures, including autonomous and electric vehicles.
Separately, Argo began testing Ford Fusion hybrid sedans (pictured) today in Detroit. The company already is evaluating the vehicles, which are modified to drive autonomously, in Pittsburgh, Palo Alto, Miami and Washington D.C.
RELATED CONTENT
-
There’s CAD. And There’s Clay.
If you were to go back in time to the turn of this century (sounds more amazing than “sixteen years ago”) and asked someone in the automotive product development community about the dominance that would exist for all manner of digital design tools, you would undoubtedly get a robust response that would make it absolutely clear that by 2016—if not before—the digitization of design would be at full throttle and that people would be working in studios with Oculus Rift headgear as commonly as prescription lenses.
-
On Electric Pickups, Flying Taxis, and Auto Industry Transformation
Ford goes for vertical integration, DENSO and Honeywell take to the skies, how suppliers feel about their customers, how vehicle customers feel about shopping, and insights from a software exec
-
On Developments at Lincoln, Magna, Fiskar, Volvo and More
Lincoln’s plans for electric; Magna and Fisker working together; Polestar in South Carolina; the Volvo XC60 driven; VW gets deep into 3D; Porsche exec on electric; BMW and hydrogen; Staubli cell for tire sensors; and Bridgestone invests in autonomous trucking company.