NEWS Ford creates automated driving subsidiary
Ford has established a subsidiary dedicated to autonomous driving systems for passenger vehicles. Te new firm, Latitude AI, has about 550 employees with expertise across machine learning, robotics, cloud platforms, mapping, sensors, compute systems, test operations, systems and safety engineering. Most of the new subsidiary’s employees
previously worked for Argo AI, a Ford- Volkswagen joint venture that closed in 2022. Te decision to close Argo AI was made due to growing losses – amounting to billions – hitting both Ford and Volkswagen, as well as ongoing uncertainty surrounding when Level 4 autonomous driving technology would become commercially available. Trough its new wholly-owned subsidiary,
Ford seeks to completely automate driving – hands-free, eyes-off-the-road – during particularly tedious and unpleasant situations, such as sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic,
or driving on long stretches of highway. Ford’s current hands-free driving technology, BlueCruise, enables drivers to take their hands off the wheel on more than 130,000 miles of prequalified North American roads. Te technology – currently available in Ford’s Mustang Mach-E SUV, F-150 Truck, F-150 Lightning Truck and Expedition SUV models – has already accumulated more than 50m miles of hands-free driving. It does, however, require the driver to keep their eyes on the road, which is ensured via a driver-facing camera. “We see automated driving technology as
an opportunity to redefine the relationship between people and their vehicles,” said Doug Field, chief advanced product development and technology officer at Ford. “Customers using BlueCruise are already experiencing the benefits of hands-off driving. Te deep experience and talent in our Latitude team will help us accelerate the development of all-new
New vision in place for UKIVA council
automated driving technology – with the goal of not only making travel safer, less stressful and more enjoyable, but ultimately over time giving our customers some of their day back.” Sammy Omari, executive director of ADAS
Technologies at Ford, will also serve as the CEO of Latitude. “We believe automated driving technology will help improve safety while unlocking all-new customer experiences that reduce stress and in the future will help free up a driver’s time to focus on what they choose,” he said. “Te 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.” Latitude is headquartered in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, with engineering hubs in Dearborn, Michigan, and Palo Alto, California. Te company will also operate a highway- speed test track in Greenville, South Carolina.
By Allan Anderson, UKIVA Chairman
As UK manufacturing continues to emerge from the long shadow of Covid, it is vital that the vision sector is able to grow and flourish. With the beginning of my two-year term as UKIVA chairman, the association is embarking on a programme of change to help us achieve this. As well as announcing a new committee,
UKIVA has created a strategy focused on four key areas. Each committee member – supported by the chairman or vice- chairman – will take responsibility for one of these areas. They are: the Machine Vision Conference (MVC); membership; education and training; and the Vision in Action magazine and marketing. We intend to keep improving MVC by
expanding its size and attracting more delegates. We’ve taken our first step this year by extending it to two days. We want to make MVC the ‘go to’ event for the industry – and we’ll do this by building a diverse audience of OEMs, machine builders, end users and academics. Maintaining a strong conference programme will be vital. Another key aim is to grow our membership – and we’ll do this by extending the benefits it offers: preferential rates to
UKIVA’s new committee, leſt to right: Simon Hickman (vice-chairman), Paul Wilson, Allan Anderson (chairman), Mark Williamson, Ian Alderton (and Paul Cunningham – not pictured)
exhibit at MVC; media exposure through Vision in Action; and discounted rates for training. We’re also looking to create a machine vision community in which ideas are exchanged in dedicated networking sessions. We’re confident these initiatives will help us expand from 50 to 70 core members within two years. Vision in Action is a key route to market
for many members. UKIVA will beef up the magazine by expanding its size and reach. Initiatives such as ‘ask the expert’ sessions, an increased digital presence and live-streamed discussions will help to lift the magazine – offering an enhanced product to our members. Raising Vision in Action’s quality – in both the print and digital versions – will help to expand the readership. Alongside this, enhancing our
8 IMAGING AND MACHINE VISION EUROPE APRIL/MAY 2023
presence online and through social channels will further boost UKIVA’s reach. Education and training are vital to
professional development. It’s our intention to explore a UKIVA-certified scheme for vision solution providers. In addition, we will explore options to introduce UKIVA machine vision training courses. Offering these schemes will make membership more attractive, boosting numbers further. Underpinning both certification and training schemes, UKIVA members will offer live online STEM sessions – to create good publicity and highlight the vision industry as an employer. By focusing on these four critical areas,
UKIVA aims to expand the use of machine vision in the UK, and make it easier for members to boost sales of their products and services.
@imveurope |
www.imveurope.com
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