Ford has only just had a patent revealed that would allow its cars to repossess themselves and now the company has announced Latitude AI. That’s a new subsidiary of the American automaker dedicated to “developing new automated driving technology with an initial focus on a hands-free, eyes-off driver assist system”. In other words, exactly the technology needed to make sure its cars can drive off if you don’t pay for them on time.
That’s obviously not the whole point of Latitude AI but it does strike us as a little coincidental. It shouldn’t though. Last year a self-driving startup Ford was backing (along with VW), called Argo AI, shut down. Most of the team for the company’s new internal division has been ported over from the company.
Having some Latitude
Experts in various automation fields, including robotics, machine learning, and sensor development, will work solely for Ford’s self-driving effort. Part of those efforts will be directed at improving the company’s BlueCruise function, which works in much the same way as Tesla’s Autopilot. It’s worth mentioning that Tesla’s self-driving beta program is on hold at the moment. There’s work to be done everywhere.
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Ford sees this as “reimagining the customer experience by automating driving during times that can be tedious, stressful and unpleasant, such as bumper-to-bumper traffic or on long stretches of highway.” Latitude AI’s work probably won’t spill over to South Africa for quite some time, however. The feature, if BlueCruise is any indication, will only be active on certain roads. At present, the American continent is the only place where hand-free driving is possible while in a Ford.
Ford’s chief advanced product development and technology officer, Doug Field, said, “Customers using BlueCruise are already experiencing the benefits of hands-off driving. The deep experience and talent in our Latitude team will help us accelerate the development of all-new 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.”