Google signed a six-year deal with Ford Motor Co that will bring Android technology to the automaker’s cars and cloud services to its factory floor, in a triumph for the Internet giant over rival Microsoft Corp.
Google Cloud Platform will be Ford’s “preferred cloud provider” and the partners will form an innovation team to jointly work on future projects, the companies said Feb 1 in a statement. Ford vehicle navigation screens will be powered by an Android operating system starting in 2023 and the automaker will adopt Google’s artificial intelligence and data-analytics technology.