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Bruce Newton31 Mar 2015
NEWS

Apple and Google 'wake up' car industry

Tech giants moving into auto sector spurs on Ford's development says R&D boss

The global chief of Ford's advanced research and development says the arrival of intelligent technology giants Apple and Google in the automotive sector is a "wake up call".

But Ken Washington, in Australia last week for meetings with Ford's local product development team, stopped short of describing them as a threat, or even admitting he knew much about either company's plans to design and manufacture complete vehicles.

"We are paying attention to the tech companies' interest in the automotive sector, but I think threatened is too strong a word," he said.

"I have no idea what their plans and capabilities are and how fast they can move.

"What we do know is they are very serious about their ambitions."

Washington instead insisted Apple and Google acted as a reminder that time was limited for Ford to take the next step in transport technology development.

"It's very validating to us that tech behemoths like Apple and Google are paying attention to the automotive industry, but that said it's also a bit of a wake-up call that we don't have forever to figure out how to take our game to the next level in terms of driving innovation in our business and getting value out of connected car and doing something real with autonomous vehicle technology," he said.

Google's development of the 'Google Car' autonomous shuttle has been well chronicled over the last few years, while Apple's 'Project Titan', which reputedly centres on building a Tesla-rivalling electric vehicle, has only broken cover in recent months.

These ventures into building complete cars comes on top of the creation of their respective in-car operating systems, Google's AndroidAuto and Apple's CarPlay.

The interest of the IT giants is fired by the increasing technology base of modern vehicles and the fact they are both cash-rich with substantial R&D budgets to spend that dwarf most car companies.

But Washington insisted Ford wasn't paying close attention: "We are not really focussed on what they are going to do, we are focussed on what we are going to do."

Washington, who joined Ford last August from the aerospace industry and worked much of the last 12 years in Silcon Valley, said Ford's priority was to advance the autonomous driving capability of its vehicles.

"What we are really focussed on is developing the technology on top of our existing capabilities to do semi-autonomous driving and driver assist technologies and to move from that level of autonomy to a full level of autonomy," Washington said.

He argued that Ford was in a prime position to benefit from the interest of the tech giants in the automotive sector because the blue oval has had its own advanced research base in California's Silicon Valley tech centre for three years.

"It's actually pretty exciting to us that there is so much interest from the tech sector in automobiles and the automotive sector. We think it's a case of rising all boats ... and it's validated the need for us to be in Silicon Valley.

"I can tell you from first-hand experience there are some pretty unique collaborations that happen in Silicon Valley. You have a very high density of technology companies, venture capital investment firms, Universities and national laboratories doing cutting edge research and development and technology development.

"By being part of that community you have access to a community of very vibrant thinkers and technology innovators."

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