ford motor company debt announced Thursday another initiative aimed at transitioning to a true electric vehicle company.
what happened: Ford said it would set up a wholly-owned subsidiary called Latitude AI to work on what it calls a “hands-free, off-the-road self-driving system.”
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The company said it is deploying a team of machine learning, robotics, software, sensors, systems engineering and operations talent to help develop self-driving technology.The team also works forward ford blue cruisea hands-free highway driving feature that allows you to take your hands off the wheel in a hands-free “blue zone”.
“We see autonomous driving technology as an opportunity to redefine the relationship between humans and vehicles. Doug Field Chief Advanced Product Development and Technology Officer at Ford. The company cited research firm traffic analytics firm INRIX, which showed that the average U.S. driver is stuck in traffic for nearly 100 hours a year.
Latitude supports Ford’s strategic shift to focus on self-driving technology for privately owned vehicles starting in 2022.
the company said Sammy Omari Ford’s executive director of ADAS technology will serve as Latitude’s CEO, peter carr Act as Chief Technology Officer.business operations David Golob Ford said.
Latitude is headquartered in Pittsburgh, with additional engineering hubs in Dearborn and Palo Alto, and a highway test track facility in Greenville, South Carolina. Incidentally, Tesla recently announced a global engineering office in Palo Alto.
Important reasons: Ford’s increased focus comes amid the automaker’s electrification efforts.Self-driving is part of a new era of EVs and EV pioneers Tesla Inc. TSLA,for example, autopilot We are currently in the final stages of testing our full self-driving software suite. Tesla CEO Elon Musk While many have debated his claims, the company advertises that it hopes to achieve Level 4 autonomy with the FSD.
Ford’s Blue Cruze and rivals general motors companyof GM All Super Cruises are said to be qualified for Level 1 autonomous driving.
Separately, Ford reported February sales, up from 129,273 in 2022 to 157,606, a 21.9% year-on-year increase. Month-on-month, sales increased by 7.7% for the more modest he.
EV sales increased 68.1% to 3,523 units, of which 1,783 Mustang Mach E 1,336 units F-150 Lightning pick-up truck. E-Transit vans accounted for the remaining 404 vehicles. The Pureplay EV accounted for less than 3% of the company’s total sales in February.
Price action: Ford ended Thursday’s session up 1.87% at $12.55, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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