No promise Windsor will have role in self-driving Chrysler Pacifica

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will try to test the company's self-driving minivan in Windsor, Ont., president and CEO Sergio Marchionne said Friday during a tour of the Windsor Assembly Plant, where the Pacifica is built.

Marchionne was quick to temper his comment and said there are no guarantees Windsor will have a role in the vehicle's development.

• Fiat Chrysler, Google to co-operate on autonomous minivans

While the Pacifica is built in Windsor, it's powered by Google.

The project is run out of Auburn Hills, Mich. where FCA has its North American headquarters so there may or may not be roles for Canada, Marchionne said.

Marchionne said he will push to have the vehicle tested on Windsor streets but that ultimately, that decision will be left up to Google.

Marchionne has been inside a self-driving Google car during a stop in California. He said the self-driving car has tremendous use in real life and that it's coming.

While Marchionne called the experience "initially unsettling" at first, he said the robot does it well.

He's really excited about the future of self-driving cars and called it "fun stuff."

It's a "slam dunk" for the long-haul trucking industry, he said.