A formal collaboration on fully self-driving auto technology is the goal of talks between Honda R&D and Waymo, an independent company of Alphabet Inc. If they reach an agreement, both companies will learn about the integration of Waymo’s self-driving sensors, software and computing platform into Honda vehicles.
The collaboration would see Honda vehicles modified to accommodate the self-driving technology, join an existing Waymo fleet currently being tested in four U.S. cities. Honda R&D engineers in Silicon Valley, California, and Tochigi, Japan, would work with Waymo engineers in Mountain View, California and Novi, Michigan.
The discussions are the next step in Honda’s previously announced plans to have production vehicles with automated driving capabilities on highways sometime around 2020.
Waymo is a self-driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to move around. The company says it is determined to improve transportation for people around the world, building on software and sensor technology developed in Google’s labs since 2009.
