The annual Consumer Electronics Show has been widely regarded as a perfect stage for a company to unveil their respective plans for the future of technology. During its press conference, car manufacturer Ford announced that it is striking a partnership with Amazon and DJI in their efforts to advance the development of autonomous cars.
Ford also said that the company is tripling its current autonomous vehicle development fleet. The company is also planning to use a new-generation sensor technology that will have a significant effect on its own self-driving car.
Ford will triple the current fleet of Fusion Hybrid cars that the company uses for research purposes. The latest generation of autonomous research vehicles will be integrated with the new Solid State Hybrid Ultra Puck from Velodyne, a new-generation sensor that provides precise real-time information that can be used for detailed mapping and accurate 3D models of the environment surrounding the autonomous car.
According to Gizmondo, the upgrade on its fleet will puts Ford's total number of autonomous test cars to 30, all of which are being tested in various roads around Michigan, Arizona and California.
Aside from the major shift of focus to autonomous cars, Ford is also entering into a partnership with Amazon and DJI.
Ford is keen to integrate Amazon's voice assistant Alexa into some of its cars. According to PC Mag, the integration will allow users to control smart home devices from their car and vice versa.
Ford's partnership with DJI is focused more on software and product development. DJI recently announced that DJI Developer Challenge which encourages developers to create drone to vehicle communication protocols using Open XV or Ford Sync AppLink. The ultimate goal of the project is to create a drone smart system for the United Nations Development Program which can be used to survey emergency zones which are virtually inaccessible to vehicles.
It appears that the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show focuses more on the future of autonomous and self-driving vehicles along with its related technologies. The triumvirate of Ford, Amazon and DJI will bring together some of the best in terms of automotive manufacturing, Internet services and UAV manufacturing. Experts are looking forward into what the three companies will come up with in the future.
On the other hand, Ford also announced that it is partnering up with TechStars. The partnership will offer funding to startup companies whose main business focuses on autonomous cars. This new partnership only shows how involved and focused Ford is into the self driving car industry.