Ford sets up a wholly owned subsidiary LATITUDE AI to develop future-oriented self-driving technology

CTOnews.com, March 5 (Xinhua)-- Ford Motor Company this week announced the formation of a wholly owned subsidiary, Latitude AI, which will focus on developing an active driving assistance system that does not need to hold a steering wheel and can be seen off the road.

▲ source: Pexels with the establishment of Latitude, Ford will add a team of professionals in machine learning, robotics, software development, sensor technology, systems engineering, testing and safety operations, and further expand and strengthen its research and development in self-driving technology, including the further development of Ford BlueCruise active driving assist system. At present, the technology has accumulated more than 80 million kilometers of active driving mileage for liberating both hands.

Ford said the establishment of the Latitude also further reflects Ford's strategic shift to focus on self-driving technology for private vehicles. Ford employs about 550 former Argo AI employees in areas such as machine learning, robotics, cloud platforms, maps, sensor technologies, computing systems, test operations, systems engineering and security operations.

Sammy Omari, executive director of ADAS technology at Ford Motor Company and CEO of Latitude, said that the expertise of the Latitude team will further complement and enhance the ability of Ford's global ADAS team to develop future-oriented driving assistance systems, eventually achieving autopilot.

CTOnews.com learned from Ford officials that Latitude is headquartered in Pittsburgh and has engineering centers in Dearborn, Michigan and Palo Alto, California. The company will also operate a highway test line in Greenville, South Carolina.