Microsoft Is Not Making A Self-Driving Car But Wants To Enable Others To Build Autonomous Vehicles

It seems like every week there are reports about another tech company working on autonomous cars or hinting they might be doing so, which is why it is so refreshing to hear Microsoft categorically ruling itself out of the race. While companies like Ford, Toyota and General Motors are all working hard to build their own driverless car technology, they are facing competition not only from the traditional car industry but from the tech industry too. Google, Tesla and Faraday Future are all looking to disrupt the car industry with Apple widely expected to join them in the coming years. Microsoft, however, won't be competing on this level. "We won't be building our own autonomous vehicle," Peggy Johnson, who heads business development for Microsoft, said at the Wall Street Journal's Convergence conference in Hong Kong on Friday -- though she added "we would like to enable autonomous vehicles and assisted driving as well." Johnson spoke about the ability to use Cortana, Microsoft's voice-activated personal assistant, which is available on its desktop and mobile software, in the car, besides leveraging products like the company's Azure cloud computing network, Office 365 suite of apps as well as Windows to improve passengers' experiences.