Google and Ford are on the verge of publicly announcing plans to build and develop self-driving cars.

According to Tech Crunch, the respective tech and auto industry giants have already entered into a joint venture to launch the project, final details of which will be made public at next month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Though the deal is rumored to be nonexclusive and allows Google to also work with other automakers committed to such technology, being the first is thought to give Ford a leg up on such competitive rivals as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volvo and Tesla.

During the last CES in January 2014, Ford chief executive officer Mark Fields said that he believes somebody will introduce autonomous vehicles within the next five years.

At that same event, Audi went as far as to transport journalists from L.A. to Vegas in self-driving vehicles, which the company called "piloted-driving."

All indications are the joint venture will legally be considered separate from Ford, meaning the automaker will have a window to defend itself, should any of the self-driving vehicles be involved in a collision. That bone of contention has been a sticking point for many automakers, who might otherwise have interests of their own in such technology.

Currently, there are no regulations in place geared for autonomous vehicles, though Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Google have all indicated that they will accept liability for any such vehicles they produce.

Word is the agreement calls for Google to handle the responsibility of actually manufacturing the vehicles. It remains to be seen if the cars will only be made available for transportation systems or also for personal ownership vehicles.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has only confirmed the company plans to work with "top-tier OEMs" and will partner will other companies to build the vehicles.