Ford Motor Co. on Thursday announced the formation of a unit that will develop automated driving technology for the automaker's vehicles.
Dubbed Latitude AI, the unit will be a wholly-owned Ford subsidiary that initially will focus on developing a hands-free, eyes-off system for next-generation Ford vehicles, according to a news release.
The announcement comes months after Ford disbanded Argo AI, a self-driving vehicle technology company in which the automaker was a major investor along with Volkswagen AG. Ford said in October that it was shutting down Argo due to the immense challenges and steep costs associated with developing Level 4 fully self-driving advanced driver assistance systems. Executives said continuing down that path would have required at least five more years and billions more dollars in investment in Argo after Ford previously expected to bring Level 4 ADAS technology to market by 2021.
