Ford’s new Silicon Valley Lab is now open to help cultivate new ideas in car electronics.
“We want Silicon Valley to view Ford as a platform that is open, accessible and ready for their innovative ideas and technologies,” said Paul Mascarenas Ford CTO. “We are looking for unexpected solutions for the future, and we believe Silicon Valley is the right place..”
The lab in Mountain View, CA will focus on 3 emerging areas of the automobile: :
- Big data – Ford is increasingly a data-driven company. It will focus on a growing list of sensors in the car and how to use the data for “crowd sourced” information such as traffic reports.
- Open-source innovation – The lab hopes to encourage new apps for Sync through an “OpenXC platform developed with Bug Labs.
- User experience – Ford is looking at new ways for drivers and passengers to interact with vehicles, and how their car should interact with them.
Separately, Ford also announced that the Sync in-car system is now part of the permanent collection at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
Source: Ford
