The next time you take your car out for a spin, imagine how much more comfortable it would be if your steering wheel perfectly conformed to the shape of your hand.

Ford Motor Company envisions that customized steering wheels and other personalized car parts will eventually become the norm for the auto industry. That's partly why the over 100-year old auto giant is turning to a newly launched Silicon Valley startup to develop technology to produce such customized products much faster than what's currently available.

On Tuesday, Ford announced a partnership with Carbon3D, a startup that specializes in 3D printing, a sizzling marketplace that some analysts say will hit $16.2 billion by 2018. The startup made a splash in March when it publicly debuted during a TED talkduring which company CEO Joseph DeSimone detailed its breakthrough 3D printing technology—inspired from the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day.