- Collaboration signed for six-years
- Ford and Lincoln vehicles to be powered by Android technology from 2023
Ford and Google have joined forces to establish a collaborative group labelled as team Upshift that will work in developing safer and efficient connected vehicle experiences. This six-year partnership will commence from the year 2023 and all Ford and Lincoln vehicles will be equipped with onboard Android and Google tech services.
All future models will feature Google apps with built-in services like maps and voice technology. It will include Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Google Play.
Further, Ford has also named Google Cloud it's preferred provider which will help the car manufacturer in data management, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. The team Upshift will also work towards developing and upgrading retail experiences when buying a vehicle, creating new ownership offers based on data, and many other customer-centric programs.
Jim Farley, President and CEO of Ford, said, “As Ford continues the most profound transformation in our history with electrification, connectivity and self-driving, Google and Ford coming together establishes an innovation powerhouse truly able to deliver a superior experience for our customers and modernise our business.”
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said, “From the first moving assembly line to the latest driver-assist technology, Ford has set the pace of innovation for the automotive industry for nearly 120 years,” “We’re proud to partner to apply the best of Google’s AI, data analytics, compute and cloud platforms to help transform Ford's business and build automotive technologies that keep people safe and connected on the road.”
