Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC Established As AV Development Ramps Up
As part of its continued investment in the development and application of autonomous vehicle technology, Ford in July announced the creation of Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC. Sherif Marakby, vice president of Autonomous Vehicles and Electrification, assumes the role of CEO and reports to a board of directors chaired by Ford Executive Vice President and President of Mobility Marcy Klevorn.
“Ford has made tremendous progress across the self-driving value chain — from technology development to business model innovation to user experience,” said Jim Hackett, president and CEO, Ford Motor Company. “Now is the right time to consolidate our autonomous driving platform into one team to best position the business for the opportunities ahead.”
In addition to Marakby’s appointment, Ford’s Global Director of Electrification Ted Cannis becomes the head of Team Edison and Ford’s Global Operations division will incorporate Information Technology and thus see CIO Jeff Lemmer report to EVP of Global Operations Joe Hinrichs. Hau Thai-Tang will continue on as the executive vice president of Product Development and purchasing, now reporting directly to Hackett.
“The evolution of computing power and IT have helped bring great products to customers — from cars to tablets,” Hackett said. “We can now harness this technology to unlock a new world of vehicle personalization, supply chain choreography, and inventory leanness that rivals any industrial model in the world — and Joe’s challenge is to help us redesign this system to do just that — while better serving customers and dealers and improving our overall fitness.”
Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC will be primarily based out of Ford’s Corktown campus, which will revolve around the recently acquired Michigan Central Station. The suborganization will retain the company’s $1 billion stake in Argo AI and will be essential in disbursing a planned $4 billion investment in autonomous vehicle technologies through 2023.
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