Ford Motor Co. has created a wholly owned subsidiary that will focus on developing a hands-free, eyes-off-the-road automated driving system called Latitude AI, the automaker announced Thursday.
This news comes five months after the Dearborn automaker announced in its third quarter earnings report in October 2022 that Ford was exiting its investment in the driverless-tech company Argo AI because it failed to attract new investors. At the time, Argo announced it was winding down operations in Pittsburgh and Ford said it planned to absorb the engineers and developers while utilizing Argo facilities.
When Ford announced taking a significant financial loss that quarter, which reflected the Argo loss, Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said profitable, fully autonomous vehicles were a long way off.
In October, Ford said in a news release the company “concluded” the industry’s advanced driver assistance systems would take longer than expected to commercialize so the company made a “strategic decision” to shift its spending from Argo to internal developments.
On Thursday, Ford announced it had hired about 550 former Argo employees with “experience in machine-learning and robotics, cloud platforms, mapping, sensors and compute systems, test operations, systems and safety engineering.” The Argo workers have, until now, been focused on automated driving, including software development tools and infrastructure, in the pivot to work on advanced driver assist systems now frequently referred to as “ADAS.”
This technology focus is on personal vehicles, not commercial vehicles, Ford said Thursday.
More:Ford CEO says automaker needs ‘totally different talent’ to meet goals. Here’s why
Latitude adds to Ford a “leading team of machine learning, robotics, software, sensors, systems engineering and operations talent as the automaker grows and expands its development efforts in automated driving technology — including advancements in Ford BlueCruise, which already has accumulated more than 50 million miles of hands-free driving,” Ford said in its release.
Doug Field, chief advanced product development and technology officer at Ford, said, “The deep experience and talent in our Latitude team will help us accelerate the development of all-new automated driving technology.”
Sammy Omari, executive director, ADAS Technologies at Ford, also will serve as the CEO of Latitude. Peter Carr has been appointed chief technology officer, overseeing Latitude’s product and technical development, and David Gollob has been named president, with responsibility for business operations.
Omari said in the news release, “The expertise of the Latitude team will further complement and enhance Ford’s in-house global ADAS team in developing future driver assist technologies, ultimately delivering on the many benefits of automation.”
Ford executives have said there is a strong potential for automated driving technology to help improve road safety, while also freeing drivers up during the more tedious parts of their travels — ultimately giving them time back, or the “latitude,” to use this time the way they want to, explained Alan Hall, a Ford technology spokesman.
Latitude is headquartered in Pittsburgh with additional engineering hubs in Dearborn, and Palo Alto, California. The company also will operate a highway-speed test track facility in Greenville, South Carolina, Ford said.
More:Ford applies for patent that allows automaker to repossess cars remotely
More:Michigan lawmakers approve $630M more in incentives for Ford battery plant near Marshall
More:Ford’s F-150 Lightning pickup is revolutionary, better than F-150 in nearly every way
Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid