Ford creates drone challenge with $100000 prize

The mobility challenge is part of Ford Smart Mobility, the plan to take the company to the next level in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience, and data and analytics. The company is tripling its fleet of research vehicles run autonomously, though the company didn’t give any timeline for making an offering for sale. Unlike LiDAR of the past, which required a bulky spinning rig, usually strapped to the roof of an automated vehicle, the Velodyne sensors are solid-state and small enough to be mounted on rearview mirrors. In what has to be the biggest statement to its commitment to self driving cars yet, up to 30 cars will be in testing across the United States this year. This comes as half of the consumers say they will buy at least one smart home product in the next year, according to Icontrol Networks.

With Ford’s Sync Connect and an Amazon Echo, users can ask Alexa to start their auto and check on the range of their vehicle from inside their home.

The two companies invited communications software developers to participate in the DJI Developer Challenge to devise such systems. As such, as Ford debuted this partnership, Harman and Microsoft on the other side of the convention hall debuted its newest system, which will include connecting your vehicle to Microsoft Office so you can work on the go.

A few news stories make it clear that the venerable automobile industry is going to wind up sliced, diced, and consumed by the new economics and technologies of the web, and in short order.

The DJI SDK 3.0 features more control over a drone’s onboard systems; full access to the SDK suite; a mission manager (with the ability to create custom missions with less coding); and bridge app and remote logger functionalities for iOS.

Amazon’s Echo smart speaker will soon work with your auto, Ford has revealed, as well as taking commands such as “play music by Bruno Mars” or “add gelato to my shopping list”, Amazon said the device accesses the internet to answer questions such as ‘when is Thanksgiving?’ and ‘what is the weather forecast?’

Today at CES 2016, Vivint Smart Home™, a leading provider of smart home technology, announced it is working with Amazon to connect its Vivint Sky smart home platform with Amazon Echo. And Ford wants to get its first fully autonomous vehicle on public roads in California this year. “Alexa, ask my Ford to start” would remotely start the vehicle allowing the cabin to be warmed or cooled. By May 10, the 15 qualifying teams will move ahead and receive a Matrice 100 and Zenmuse X3 camera to complete the application.

A recent report suggests that Google and Ford are planning to announce a joint venture to build self-driving cars.