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 The U.S. automaker will expand advanced safety technology, including
automatic braking, across its global vehicle lineup over the next
five years, they said. Such systems, the precursors of fully
autonomous vehicles, enable hands-free operation of cars under
certain conditions by automating such basic functions as steering,
braking and throttle.
Ford has lagged behind competitors, notably General Motors Co,
Volkswagen AG's <VOWG_p.DE> Audi, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and
Tesla Motors Inc, which have all announced plans to begin offering
semi-automated driving systems over the next 18 months.
On Tuesday, Ford said it had created a global team to develop
self-driving vehicles, with 29-year company veteran Randy
Visintainer as director.
The move elevates a low-key research effort to a higher-profile
advanced engineering project, and signals Chief Executive Mark
Fields' intent to accelerate Ford's presence in the area.
"During the next five years, we will move to migrate driver-assist
technologies across our product lineup (and) continue to increase
automated driving capability," Raj Nair, Ford's global product
development chief, said Tuesday in Palo Alto, California.
Nair said the move is "another step closer to production" of fully
autonomous vehicles. He declined to say when such vehicles would
reach the market, but other companies have targeted 2020.
Much of the engineering development work will take place at Ford's
recently opened research and innovation center in Palo Alto in
northern California's Silicon Valley, where the company expects to
have 125 employees by year-end.
More than a dozen global automakers and suppliers have teamed up
with tech startups and established companies in the area to develop
advanced safety and self-driving systems.
Automatic braking and pedestrian detection, which are available on
Ford's Mondeo sedan in Europe, will debut next year on one of its
U.S. vehicles and in most Ford products globally by 2019.
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A key supplier of pedestrian-detection technology is Mobileye NV,
which is working with Ford, GM, Tesla and other automakers to bring
such advanced safety systems to market.
A study issued on Tuesday by AlixPartners on autonomous driving
noted that the automotive industry is in the second phase of
"advanced driver assistance systems," or ADAS.
ADAS began in 2000 with phase one, which included the introduction
by several companies of adaptive cruise control, which automatically
regulates speed. The current phase includes active lane-keeping and
emergency braking that require no driver input.
Ford said its advanced engineering efforts extend well beyond
self-driving vehicles. Executives on Tuesday announced breakthroughs
in high-speed, three-dimensional printing of prototype parts, in
partnership with Silicon Valley-based Carbon3D, as well as the
extension of the MyFord Mobile app to wearables, including Apple
Watch and Android Wear.
The latter app will enable owners of Ford hybrid and electric cars
to remotely check such functions as driving range and battery
charge.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodal in Detroit and Paul Lienert in Palo
Alto, California; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Richard Chang)
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