Ford Expands Tech Footprint in Israel

Ford opens a research center in the heart of Tel Aviv’s technology community to serve as an Israeli hub augmenting the automaker’s global research and advanced engineering team.

Ford Research Center Israel also will seek out local technology and start-up companies in sectors including connectivity, sensors, automated-systems research, in-vehicle monitoring and cybersecurity.

The automaker has been working with companies and partners in Israel’s tech community for many years.

The center, opened by Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, will include a vehicle lab to support proof-of-concept efforts and AI work conducted by a team from SAIPS, a Ford-owned Israeli company focusing on machine learning and computer vision.

“We recognize the importance of being in one of the world’s leading innovation communities and ecosystems,” Bill Ford says in a statement. “This new center is not only an expansion of our existing research and innovation centers but also provides an opportunity to join a growing innovation community in Israel.”

The research center will operate closely with SAIPS, led by its founder and CEO, Udy Danino, who also has been appointed as Israel technical director for the center.

In 2015, Ford was among the first major automakers to host a developer challenge in Israel, returning last year to Tel Aviv with its fourth annual MakeItDriveable start-up event, which originated in Israel and spread to other tech hotspots such as Berlin, Dublin and Paris.

The Israeli research center joins Ford’s global network of research centers, including those in Aachen, Germany; Nanjing, China; and Dearborn, MI.