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Ford, Volkswagen explore driverless venture to challenge Tesla, Waymo
By: MarketWatch | November 2, 2018

Auto giants are in talks to team up on driverless cars as they seek to fend off challenges from Silicon Valley

BERLIN— Ford Motor Co. F, +1.05% and Volkswagen AG are in talks to create a joint self-driving car venture, people familiar with the matter said, aligning two of the world’s largest auto makers in the industry’s race to reshape the future of transportation.

The two companies are considering various options on how they would structure the new business and a deal could be announced by mid-November, these people say.

One option could involve Volkswagen VOW, +2.71% VOW, +2.09% taking a stake of up to 50% in Ford’s existing driverless-car unit. Another could be the creation of a new company that would combine the auto makers’ self-driving car units, the people said. Forming a new company would create a global technology brand, and could make it easier for the two manufacturers to share ownership of new patents and intellectual property and open the venture to further partners, the people said.

Earlier this year, Ford and Volkswagen said they were exploring a strategic alliance that would include codeveloping a range of commercial vehicles, as well as other projects, but those talks have expanded into a broader discussion of ways Ford and VW could cooperate globally, these people said.

Tesla Inc. TSLA, -0.03% , which launched its first electric car in 2008, has pulled ahead of rivals Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW AG BMW, +1.76% in the U.S. market for luxury plug-in vehicles. Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL, -1.22% Waymo is ahead of many auto makers in its self-driving car efforts and could end up in control of that technology in the next decade, analysts say.

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