Ford Motor is developing an innovation center for ‘smart mobility’ to benefit from Britain’s ‘first-rate digital talent’ and academic organizations.
The center, due to open later on this year, will house about 40 experts in the Here East campus on the Olympic Park in east London.
Ford stated its new base will permit it to work with advanced tech research centers. It currently has a partnership with Loughborough University and is dealing with an energy-efficient power train and plug-in hybrid innovation.
The Olympic Park likewise has a private road network which can be made available for testing.
It follows Ford caution last July that Britain’s choice to leave the EU would cost it ₤ 790 million over the next two years.
However, instead of moving away from the UK, Ford is moving gears under new employer, Jim Hackett, who formerly headed up the company’s autonomous vehicles unit and replaced Mark Fields as chief executive last month.
Steven Armstrong, group vice-president, stated: “Basing our quickly growing team in the heart of development in London is crucial to accelerating our learning and development of new innovations.”
Ford’s statement comes as Jaguar Land Rover revealed it has invested ₤ 20 million in Uber competitor Lyft in order to test ride-sharing and driverless vehicles.
According to the deal, the company will sell vehicles to Lyft to utilize in its existing network, along with working on services that it may present in the future.
The company will likewise work with Lyft to develop driverless automobiles.
Similar to Uber, Lyft permits passengers to book rides by means of an app that connects to payments on their phone.
The company currently operates in 300 US cities, consisting of New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Jaguar is the most recent automaker to partner with a tech business as the industry looks to offset a fall in automobile ownership in big cities with a fall back avenue for possible sales.
Sebastian Peck, the head of Jaguar’s transport services company In Motion, stated: “This new venture will offer a real-world platform assisting us develop our autonomous services.”
General Motors was the first significant vehicle maker to invest in Lyft, contributing ₤ 395m in 2015.
₤1 = $1.28.
