Google and Fiat Chrysler might ink deal to make self-driving minivans

Google wants to take its self-driving cars to the next level.

According to Bloomberg, Google is planning to develop self-driving prototypes based on Fiat Chrysler’s Pacifica minivan. The two companies are reportedly embarking on the first phase of a joint project to create autonomous vehicles. The new Pacifica will be a plug-in hybrid and should be available with Google’s technology by sometime this year. Their partnership is not exclusive.

Keep in mind The Wall Street Journal and AutoExtremist both claimed earlier this month that Google has been in “late stage talks” with Fiat Chrysler on a partnership for several months – and they were supposedly reaching final negotiations. Now, Bloomberg has added that Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive at Fiat Chrysler, is directly involved in the more recent talks.

This partnership between Google and Fiat Chrysler is expected to be announced this week, marking the first time Google has paired with a major automaker to make a commercially-viable version of its self-driving cars, which currently look like golf cart prototypes. Google has conducted more than 1.4 million miles of tests on its self-driving prototypes.

Google’s also been linked to General Motors in recent months. A potential partnership with that automaker was being mulled around, Bloomberg said, but it ultimately never came to fruition, as there were apparently disagreements over ownership of technology and data. We’re assuming Google and Fiat Chrysler worked that stuff out.

If so, they are expected to make “several dozen” self-driving minivans.