“The appointment comes just a week after Ford issued its first-ever over-the-air software update, for its 2016 car models…”
Ford has appointed a new CEO, and the company’s choice suggests it’s looking to accelerate in the area of connected and smart car technology.
As TechCrunch notes
, the new appointee, Jim Hackett, previously served as the head of the company’s Smart Mobility business, and his appointment as Ford’s new leader serves “to underscore its ambitions in connected and self-driving cars”. Announcing the appointment at a press conference, Chairman Bill Ford suggested that one of Hackett’s key focuses will be “modernizing the business around new innovations around big data, AI, robotics and so on,” TechCrunch reports. And for his part, Hackett said he expects to oversee a “transformative period” at the company.
The appointment comes just a week after Ford issued its first-ever over-the-air software update, for its 2016 car models, and soon after the company announced that it will open a Research and Engineering Centre in Ottawa, where it will hire hundreds of former BlackBerry employees, and a new data center in Michigan. All of which suggests that the company is looking to considerably rev up its smart car efforts amid growing collaboration and overlap between the automotive and IT sectors.
Source: TechCrunch
Follow Us