Ford, VW to partner on autonomous tech: Report

A formal announcement could be made in July.

Ford and Volkswagen are said to be on the verge of announcing their second partnership of the year; after inking a deal to co-produce vans and pickup trucks in January, the two automakers are said to be zeroing in on a deal to jointly develop autonomous vehicles.

According to those familiar with the negotiations, Ford and VW could be ready to announced an autonomous vehicle deal as soon as next month. The partnership would also include Argo AI, a self-driving startup already backed by Ford.

"Discussions have been productive across a number of areas. We'll share updates as details become more firm,” Ford said of the discussion with VW in a statement to Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, VW recently ended its partnership with Aurora Innovations to develop self-driving tech. VW and Aurora joined forces at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, with VW confirming on Tuesday that activities under the "partnership have been concluded.”

Ford has faced claims that its autonomous tech is lagging behind rivals, but a partnership with VW would all but eliminate those criticisms. The Ford-VW partnership will reportedly match the efforts by Waymo in both ambition and scope.