The cooperation between the two companies will make Google the preferred cloud provider for Ford, which will focus on the The tech giant’s expertise in the areas of data, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). From 2023, millions of upcoming Ford and Lincoln vehicles in all price ranges will also be operated with Android. The partnership is initially set for six years.
Ford brings Android Automotive into its vehicles
While Ford is still using its Sync infotainment system in version 4 in its vehicles such as the Mach-E for the time being, Ford will be using Google’s Android system from calendar year 2023. Replace automotive platform. Among other things, Google Maps becomes the main navigation – including real-time traffic information, automatic rerouting and more.
The voice-based Google Assistant is also on board so that the driver can concentrate on the traffic. Even if Android Automotive is on board as the main system, it should still be possible to use Apple’s Carplay and Alexa, according to Ford.
As on Android smartphones, the main point of contact for apps is the Google Play Store, for example to consume music, podcasts, audiobooks and more. According to Google, Ford and third-party developers will also be able to offer apps for “a constantly improved and increasingly personalized driving experience”.
Ford emphasizes that the user experience will differ greatly from the Android automotive version, which is used in the Polestar 2 (test), for example. Ford can adapt the system together with Google according to their own ideas.
How the Sync brand will be used by Ford in the future will be decided at a later date. It is not unreasonable that Sync 4 could be the last version of Ford’s infotainment system. At least for the next six years.
Ford is not the first major car company to use Android in the car . In addition to the Geely subsidiaries Polestar and Volvo, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance had already announced in 2018 that it would rely on Android Automotive, followed by General Motors in 2019.
Team of Ford and Google employees will work together on digital solutions in the future
The cooperation does not only concern cars, Instead, the entire car company is to be digitized and rebuilt using Google’s cloud and expertise. For this purpose, the two companies are setting up a cooperation group with Team Upshift. The transformation encompasses every imaginable sector – from the office to the car purchase to supply chain management.
Among other things, the focus is on the implementation of data-driven business models, which should lead to customers receiving real-time notifications such as maintenance requests or trade-in warnings, according to the announcement. Furthermore, the modernization and acceleration of product development are the focus of the transformation.
First cooperation between Google and Ford did not materialize
It is the first partnership between the companies involved, but the two large US corporations were already in place 2015 to 2016 at the negotiating table to agree on a cooperation for the development of self-driving cars. At that time, however, no agreement was reached. Instead, Ford took over the startup Argo AI in 2017, which was founded by Google’s former head of hardware for autonomous driving, Bryan Salesky. In 2019, Volkswagen invested 2.6 billion US dollars in Argo AI as part of its partnership with Ford to advance autonomous driving.