Ford's new CEO eyes software, tech stack as differentiator vs. rivals
New Ford CEO Jim Farley's plan for the automaker includes a heavy dose of software and services for its commercial vehicle business as well as new consumer experiences to drive loyalty.
Ford, which is in the middle of a turnaround of its core business, is trying to navigate a shift to electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles as well as an industry that is increasingly more about software. Farley takes over for Jim Hackett, who streamlined the automaker over the last three years.
Farley outlined a series of leadership changes and a plan that includes "expanding its commercial vehicle business with a suite of software services that drive loyalty and recurring revenue streams" and "unleashing technology and software in ways that set Ford apart from competitors."
In addition, Ford is looking to develop connected vehicles and create new businesses from the Argo AI self-driving system.
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Ford is also looking for a new CIO as Jeff Lemmer is retiring Jan. 1. His successor will lead Ford's technology and software platform.
The tech strategy from Farley lands after a Sept. 16 investor presentation by Kenneth Washington CTO. Washington outlined the connectivity required from smart vehicles in the future that will include 5G, satellites and edge, cloud, and fog computing.
Washington said the plan is to build out a tech stack that's future proof.
Our tech stack is designed to accelerate the development and delivery of differentiated customer experiences. And this includes both our retail and our commercial vehicles. We're designing this tech stack to be future-proof, to connect the vehicle to the smart world around it. It's going to be able to evolve and continuously integrate into the smart world and get better over time through providing over-the-air updates. We're designing it to move the intelligence from the sensors and actuators into a central high-performance compute cluster in the vehicle so that we can create a true digital platform upon which we can innovate with software and add-on services that will provide experiences like the consumption of TV, music or even shopping apps. These are the building blocks also for more advanced infotainment as well as the Level 4 autonomy.
Washington added that Ford has hired more than 3,000 advanced computing experts to work on the tech stack and surrounding technologies including things like smart cities, mobility services, edge computing, and analytics.
He said:
If you were to tear down a future Ford, say, 10 years from now, the biggest difference you'd see is that the software, compute and sensing services are being serviced by a central compute module. And that's really important because that's more like we're accustomed to seeing with the smartphones and the smart devices that we surround ourselves in our homes with every day. So this design that you would see would enable us to really leverage the power of high bandwidth connectivity that happens around the vehicle.
In the future, vehicle changes will be handled with updates via software and algorithms instead of hardware, said Washington. These updates would start with software, but design of electrical architecture as well as shared memory and power systems for various zones of the vehicle would be critical.
Other key points about Ford's tech stack include:
- Ford uses QNX, Autosar and Linux to develop is operating system and tech stack.
- The automaker builds on top of that OS with middleware from its internal software team.
- In 2020, Ford began equipping most of its redesigned vehicles with the ability for advanced over-the-air updates.
- The data from those updates on vehicles like the F-150 and Bronco will help Ford iterate.
- There are 5 million Ford connected vehicles in the field today.
- Ford sees opportunities in services to optimizes Ford fleets for small business owners.
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