Ford Invests to Win the Self-Driving Car Race

While there has been some discussion around whether Silicon Valley companies like Alphabet, Tesla, and Uber would be able to upend traditional automakers in the race to develop self-driving cars, it seems increasingly likely that the future will be driven by partnerships. Building cars is a difficult, complicated process, which car companies like Ford, GM, and Fiat-Chrysler have down to a science. Although Tesla has arguably become the first successful new US car company in decades, it still doesn't produce vehicles at a scale anywhere near that of Detroit automakers. Waymo recently partnered with Fiat-Chrysler to develop cars for its service, and Mercedes producer Daimler is doing the same for Uber. GM also purchased a self-driving car startup, called Cruise Automation, for $1 billion in 2016, a move not unlike Ford's investment today.