Ford drives for Silicon Valley partnerships

Photo: Vicki Thompson

Business Journal tech writer Diana Samuels test drove one of Ford's electric cars at Monday's press event marking the official opening of the auto maker's Silicon Valley lab.

The car industry and the computer industry have changed people?s lives more than any others, Ford executive chairman Bill Ford said at the Computer History Museum on Monday night.

Now, cars and computers are coming together, merging as the car becomes a "mobile platform," he said as part of a discussion series at the museum.

Ford (the company) held a day-long event at the museum to celebrate the opening of the new Ford ?Silicon Valley Lab.? I covered the announcement of the lab back in January, and the facility is now officially open. It?s located on Hamilton Avenue in downtown Palo Alto, and has four people working there now. K. Venkatesh Prasad, a senior technical leader at Ford who is heading up the new lab, said it will grow to about 12 people in the coming months.

The lab will work on ways to bring Silicon Valley?s computing technology into Ford?s cars. Bill Ford, who is the great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, said having a physical presence here will allow Ford to stay on top of the latest technical innovations, build on partnerships it already has with tech companies like Microsoft and Apple, and meet new startups with interesting technologies.

The lab gives startups access to "a real human being who can fast-track their idea (to Ford) if it makes sense," Bill Ford said.

He described a future where cars will look for a parking spot for you as you drive, reserve it ahead of time, and then park themselves. And where cars can communicate with each other to share traffic info and provide drivers with the best routes to avoid gridlock. That?s something that will be key as the global population and the number of cars on the road increases, and a topic some local startups like Waze are already working on.

Diana Samuels covers technology, cleantech, biotech and venture capital. Her phone number is 408.299.1835.

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