FRANKFURT/DETROIT -- Ford and Volkswagen have reached an outline agreement to share electric and autonomous car technologies, extending their alliance beyond commercial vehicles, a source familiar with the matter said.
VW will share its MEB electric vehicle platform with Ford, the source said.
Ford CEO Jim Hackett said in January that sharing EV and AV technologies is an "attractive area" for cooperation because of big investment costs.
Ford said on June 27 that it is developing a family of electric vehicles aimed at European markets. It did not comment on whether the EVs would use VW's platform, which will debut on the ID3 battery-electric compact car at the Frankfurt auto show in September. VW aims to sell up to 150,000 electric vehicles on the MEB platform by the end of 2020.
VW’s tie-up with Ford is also likely to include an investment in Ford's autonomous affiliate Argo AI, Bloomberg reported last month. Such a partnership could rival Google affiliate Waymo and General Motors' Cruise unit in ambition and scope. Ford and VW have discussed an approximate valuation for Argo of $4 billion, a person familiar with their deliberations told Bloomberg in February.
A VW spokesman declined to comment on the details of a potential alliance but said that talks with Ford are progressing well.
A Ford spokeswoman said: "Our talks with Volkswagen continue. Discussions have been productive across a number of areas. We will share updates as details become more firm."
VW's supervisory board is due to discuss deepening the alliance at a meeting on July 11, according to Reuters and Bloomberg sources.
