According to a report from Yahoo Autos, three separate sources have confirmed to them that Ford and Google will announce a wide-ranging partnership at the Consumer Electronics Show in January that will see the automaker and the tech giant partner to produce self-driving cars.

The deal is truly the beginning of an autonomous commuter future. It also makes a ton of sense. With this reported partnership, Google will save the huge costs of building a manufacturing infrastructure for their own self-driving cars, which is something they've been looking to avoid for a while. Ford, which itself has been active in autonomous-vehicle research for many years, will get access to Google's self-driving car software that has already covered well more than one million public miles.

The deal is truly the beginning of an autonomous commuter future.

Yahoo reports that the joint venture will be separate from Ford, which would be a way to keep the company free of the potential liability issues that self-driving cars present. It is also reported that Ford's deal with Google is not exclusive and that Google has been discussing its technology with multiple automakers, including Volvo, Mercedes, and Nissan, all of which have also been actively developing autonomous and semiautonomous vehicle technologies.

This is a big deal for the future of driving and commuting. It also puts the ball firmly in Apple's court to see what move they make with the rumored "Project Titan" self-driving car. We'll certainly learn more about this new automotive landscape in the near future.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io