Honda in talks with Google’s Waymo on self-drive tech

Honda Motor said Wednesday it is talking to Waymo, the autonomous driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, to try to strike a deal that would put its self-driving technology into some of the Japanese automaker’s cars.

Both companies stressed that the talks are about research, rather than full production vehicles, at this point. If all goes well, Honda may provide Waymo with vehicles that are modified to run the self-driving system, and those cars would join the existing Waymo fleet currently being tested in four US cities.

Discussions with Honda underscore that Waymo wants develop the brains behind self-driving vehicle technology rather than build the cars that use it. The talks also show that Waymo, the new name of Google’s Self-Driving Car Project, is eager to work with more car companies as it races to rack up test miles with its autonomous-drive systems and prepare it for commercialisation. “For companies like Apple and Google, it makes more sense to supply the technology than to get into the car business, which is capital intensive and highly regulated,’’ said Michelle Krebs, an analyst at Cox Automotive’s Autotrader.com. “It makes sense for them to provide their technology to companies that are already making cars.’’

Waymo already has a deal with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, which has built 100 Chrysler Pacifica plugin hybrid minivans equipped with its computers and a suite of sensors, telematics and other systems. FCA’s vehicles will join the company’s fleet of self-driving cars early next year. General Motors and Ford Motor tried to strike deals with Google’s self-driving unit last year, but were unable to do so.

Automakers had been wary of working with Google, thinking the internet search giant could dominate their businesses, but that attitude is changing, said Mark Bünger, a vice president covering digital transformation at Lux Research.