The Detroit Bureau

Ford has extensive experience in the development of onboard and offboard applications for SYNC car connectivity system.

By Joseph Szczesny, the BureauForget of Detroit in the rust belt, Ford Motor Co. is now officially a part of the high-tech world of Silicon Valley.

The growing role of digital technology in the automotive industry has a new electronics research laboratory in a silicon chip to detect, throw such tech giants like Apple, Google and Intel the automaker opened.
"We have been innovative for more than a century at Ford, but we recognize that we no monopoly on creativity," Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford observed during the formal inauguration of the new laboratory in mountain view, California "complemented our existing research efforts allow our new Office in the region to tap into us, forward in the last few decades has pushed forward the technology of the consumer."

Long U.S. associated was the industrial heartland, Ford its global reach with a network of so-called "Research and innovation" expanded facilities in Aachen, Germany; Nanjing, People's Republic of China; and his home in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. It has also on technology Scouts in Tel Aviv, set Israel.

"We want to show Silicon Valley Ford as a platform, open, accessible, and ready for their innovative ideas and technologies," said Paul Mascarenas, chief technical officer and Vice President of the Ford Research and advanced engineering. "We are on the lookout for unexpected solutions for the future, and we believe that Silicon Valley the right place to round off our global research organization."


Valley lab will serve Ford's Silicon, such as a local point of contact for many relations Ford already with Bay area technology companies and startups. His main task is to use concentrated themselves support an independent laboratory on three key areas, the future of mobility, including the data however, open source innovation and ease of use.

"We see technology as more than just an impressive list of microprocessors, sensors and software," added Mascarenas. "It is the prerequisite for a secure, intuitive, and pleasant time behind the wheel."


Increasingly, Ford is a data-driven company, merger of internal and external sources to make to support product and marketing plans, and strategic decision making. In addition, the data can vehicle from the growing list of sensing technologies in the car used, a personalized to create productive and more comfortable driving experience, then aggregates to help address congestion and to improve the efficiency.

Open-source innovation keeps the car as a platform and provides access to real-time data allows for the rapid development of custom hardware and software applications. Ford has extensive experience in the development of onboard and offboard applications for SYNC ® car connectivity system. Now, the Silicon Valley lab is look at open source development with the research platform OpenXC developed Bug Labs.


The user experience means that information and services of the driver in the way presented, which does not take away the primary task of the operation of the vehicle. Ford is thinking such as drivers and passengers with vehicles as well as interact, how vehicles with them should interact. Innovations in design and new technologies can optimally organize to provide filtering and content.
"How new ways of processing, curating and are designed to filter information, the ways to improve personal mobility almost unlimited", said Venkatesh Prasad, general manager of the new lab and senior of technical manager of open innovation.

"With forward-thinking minds in the world, located many of the best in the San Francisco Bay, the Ford is Silicon Valley lab ideally positioned to interact with and make connections to local innovators and the relationships with our current partners grow," Prasad said.