Google parent Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) made history this week with the first major partnership on advancing driverless cars. Fiat Chrysler will be delivering 100 slightly tweaked Pacifica Hybrid minivans to Google, which will install its technology on the fleet.
It is fitting that Google would choose a Fiat Chrysler minivan first, given Chrysler is the company that originally introduced minivans to the U.S. market in the mid-1980s. The new Pacifica model is purported to be the most fuel-efficient minivan on the market, with FCA claiming efficiency of 80 miles per gallon and an additional 30 miles all electric. Given past controversies over fuel mileage with hybrids though, we have yet to see if the Pacifica lives up to its claims.
In any case, Google’s choice of the Pacifica makes sense because if successful, it would give the two companies the impressive double claim of most fuel-efficient hybrid electric minivan and the first mass-produced driverless fleet at the same time.
The deal is great for the passenger car industry as a whole as well because, by working with Google, FCA is showing that car companies can embrace a more efficient division of labor. While there are undoubtedly tech experts at Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Volkswagen and BMW, companies that have all introduced a certain degree of driver-assist technology in their fleets, Google’s knowledge on the subject of driverless technology is undoubtedly much deeper and comprehensive.
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