Ford Motor Co on Thursday launched a brand new automated driving system subsidiary, Latitude AI, months after winding down operations of its former self-driving expertise unit Argo AI.
Carmakers together with Mercedes-Benz have ramped up their investments in direction of integrating extra software program and autonomous tech in autos regardless of some skepticism on the expertise.
Latitude will increase on the corporate’s current BlueCruise expertise, which already presents hands-free freeway driving on sure fashions.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker added it employed about 550 staff who beforehand labored at Argo AI for its new subsidiary.
Ford, which collectively ran Argo with Volkswagen AG, booked a $2.7 billion non-cash pre-tax impairment on its funding within the unit and laid off some staff.
Latitude, which will probably be led by Ford’s government director of ADAS Applied sciences, Sammy Omari, is headquartered in Pittsburgh with further engineering hubs in Dearborn, Michigan and Palo Alto, California.
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Alphabet Inc’s self-driving expertise unit, Waymo, laid off 137 staff, in its second spherical of job cuts this yr, the agency instructed Reuters on Wednesday, bringing whole cuts for the yr to eight % of its workforce. Waymo has eradicated some engineering roles as a part of the cuts to “deal with industrial success,” the corporate stated in a press release. The corporate has now lower a complete of 209 jobs this yr.
