It’s no secret that artificial intelligence is quickly gaining traction in many industries these days, with a lot of folks expecting it to replace quite a lot of white collar workers in the near future. That includes Ford CEO Jim Farley, who has spoken at length about the automaker’s extensive use of AI across its operations, but aside from doing things like improving quality, the executive also sees AI as a way to help The Blue Oval catch up with Chinese automakers.
“We’re highly informed by what’s going on in China right now, specifically the customer experience part,” Farley said during a recent appearance on The Verge‘s Decoder podcast. “An AI assistant in the car, let’s say, is very important for Ford. We think that every customer should have an AI assistant in the car. Not just a voice to move to your phone-based AI system but something specific that you can talk to, almost like a companion. To allow everyone to bring their digital life into the car and have it seamlessly integrated is a more complicated journey for us to execute.”
“Then, put more on top of that, whether it’s productivity software (we’re now up to 1 million Ford Pro subscriptions now), BlueCruise, how you plan a trip, or auto specific things like how your [Advanced Driver Assistance Systems] (ADAS) system works and how it integrates into your entertainment system. We believe we have to design something that works with your digital life as well.”
Back in July, Farley said that the advanced technology present in Chinese vehicles these days is “the most humbling thing I’ve ever seen. “They have far superior in vehicle technology. Huawei and Xiaomi are in every car. You get in, you don’t have to pair your phone automatically, your digital life is mirrored in the car, you have an AI companion that you can talk to – Chat GPT equivalent in China. All your automatic payment is already there, you can buy movie tickets – it has facial recognition so it knows who’s in which seat.”
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