The Dearborn automaker opened the Research and Innovation Center Palo Alto Thursday in Stanford Research Park, and said it plans to have 125 researchers, engineers and scientists working there by the end of the year, making it one of the largest automotive research facilities in Silicon Valley.
DETROIT, MI - Ford Motor Co. has opened a research and development lab in Palo Alto, Calif., expanding its footprint in Silicon Valley.
The Dearborn automaker opened the Research and Innovation Center Palo Alto Thursday in Stanford Research Park, and said it plans to have 125 researchers, engineers and scientists working there by the end of the year, making it one of the largest automotive research facilities in Silicon Valley.
"At Ford, we view ourselves as both a mobility and an auto company, as we drive innovation in every part of our business," Ford president and CEO Mark Fields said in a statement. "This new research center shows Ford's commitment to be part of the Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem – anticipating customers' wants and needs, especially on connectivity, mobility and autonomous vehicles. We are working to make these new technologies accessible to everyone, not just luxury customers."
Ford first opened an office in Silicon Valley in 2012. The new research facility will be led by Dragos Maciuca, and engineer hired away from Apple. Maciuca has experience in consumer electronics, semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace and automotive, according to a release.
At the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, the company launched the Ford Smart Mobility, which it said is aimed at accelerating connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, customer experience and big data.
The Silicon Valley operation will play a big role in pushing that program forward. It complements existing R&D centers already operating in other parts of the country, including Dearborn.
"Future mobility solutions will require fresh ideas and vigorous collaboration between researchers inside Ford and with other technology leaders outside the automotive industry," Raj Nair, Ford group vice president of global product development and chief technical officer, said in the release. "Our Palo Alto research team will build on existing relationships with universities and technology companies, and forge new ones to help us create and apply the appropriate technology working together."
If you'd like to know key aspects of Ford's related research, check out the videos from Ford, below.
In the "connectivity" realm, the company is working with the Nest system use in maintaining home heating and energy systems:
For mobility, Ford is working on a system called aDRIVE, which creates simulated driving scenarios in a virtual world, in part to test autonomous driving:
And for customer experience, Ford is researching a human-machine interface simulator:
“Growing the Palo Alto team will strengthen our global research prowess and drive innovation needed to meet the needs of our customers in the future,” Ken Washington, vice president of Ford research and advanced engineering, said in the release. “Working together with the Silicon Valley research community will spark the new ideas, products and services that will help Ford once again change the way the world moves.”
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter