Is a Microsoft car in the offing?

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has put to bed rumours that the software company intends to build an autonomous car.

Speaking at a live conference, Nadella said that even though companies like Google and Apple as well as traditional carmakers are building cars – and often using Microsoft Azure to the company’s benefit – it has no plans to construct its own car.

He said that Microsoft’s focus is rather to be available as a trusted and non-competing partner for the likes of Daimler, Ford and Toyota where it can focus on its ‘self-driving technology’ software efforts such as image recognition and cloud infrastructure for their benefit.

He  pointed to Volvo and Uber which are currently using Azure’s cognitive capabilities to increase driver and passenger safety.