Ford Motor Co. is reportedly teaming up with Google to create a self-driving vehicle. The report came from Yahoo! Autos , which cites sources familiar with the matter who claim that the partnership will be announced during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2016.

The news came just after Ford got its approval to test its self-driving vehicles in California and Google’s announcement that it plans to make its self-driving car unit a standalone business under Alphabet, Inc., now the parent company of Google.

For Ford, the partnership means access to Google’s massive self-driving development software, and for Google, this means it can concentrate on the technology instead of investing its time and resources building a vehicle from the ground up. This plan will fit perfectly with what Google cofounder Sergey Brin said back in October when he revealed that it will not be selling driverless cars, despite having been able to build its own self-driving vehicle, but it will partner with car manufacturers who will then use their software and technology to provide consumers with driverless cars.

Details of the partnership are unclear for now, with Ford spokesman Alan Hall stating that partnerships with other companies is not new as it falls under the Ford Smart Mobility plan, and he added that the company keeps “these discussions private for obvious competitive reasons, and we do not comment on speculation.”

Hopefully, we’ll know more about the said partnership by January. This partnership is not expected to result in the exclusivity of Google’s technology, especially with the Android-based Open Automotive Alliance in play. It will probably result in something like what Google does with its Nexus devices. It supplies the mobile operating system and the mobile manufacturers take care of the device itself.

It’s curious as to how this partnership will play out — Ford takes care of the shell, and Google the brains — but who will be held accountable when a joint driverless vehicle gets into an accident?

photo credit: Google presenta l’auto che si guida da sola superintelligente via photopin (license)