Ford sets up AI and robotics research team

Ford sets up AI and robotics research team

Car maker Ford has set up a new Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Research team. Ken Washington, Ford’s Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Research and Advanced Engineering, announced the new team in a blog post this week.

According to Washington, the team “will be dedicated to a greater focus on evaluating new sensor technologies, machine learning methods, technical requirements for entry into global markets, and development of personal mobility devices, drones and other aerial robotics to enhance first- and last-mile travel”.

Washington continued: “We’re doing all this because now that we have an established partnership with Argo AI to lead development of our virtual driver system — the computer platform, sensors and algorithms — for our first-generation self-driving vehicle program, we can put greater emphasis on other rapidly developing advancements in this space that will feed work in autonomous vehicle technology. Our robotics and artificial intelligence researchers will continue to collaborate with the Argo AI team so they can someday put this promising emerging technology to work in future generations of self-driving vehicles.

“Our research team already has a lot going on, so with Argo AI leading development of our virtual driver system for production self-driving vehicles — building off what we started — we can use the existing Ford virtual driver system for continued research without disrupting production work. The most recent example of that was demonstrated at Mcity, the University of Michigan test track that simulates an urban environment. We’ll be able to use our research vehicle fleet to experiment with emerging sensing technology and try out new ways to leverage deep learning techniques. This means you’ll likely see at least two separate fleets of self-driving vehicles on the road — one led by the Ford team, conducting advanced research, and another by Argo AI, developing and testing our virtual driver system for production.”

As previously reported by Post&Parcel, Ford’s new president and CEO Jim Hackett – who was confirmed in the post last month (May) –  was previously the head of the company’s Smart Mobility Unit, so developments in autonomous and connected vehicles are very much on his radar.

In February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Ford unveiled its “Autolivery” concept – which looked at ways of “harnessing autonomous and electric vehicle technology with drones to quickly and easily send and deliver parcels”.

And in London this week, autonomous grocery delivery vehicles are actually being put the test on the streets, as part of the Greenwich Automated Transport Environment (GATEway) Project.

Relevant Directory Listings

Listing image

FOXPOST

Leading logtech company, transforming last-mile delivery and reducing the industry’s carbon footprint through parcel locker technology. Offering the best turn-key solution on the market to companies aiming to increase last-mile efficiency. Cut the learning curve and save millions of Euros using our market-ready know-how. Cutting-edge […]

Find out more

Other Directory Listings

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

What’s the future of the postal USO?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!



MER Magazine


The Mail & Express Review (MER) Magazine is our quarterly print publication. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, MER is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

 

News Archive

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This