As auto companies race to build the cars of the future, some are looking to Israeli technology to help make them fully autonomous.

Ford Motor Co. has acquired the Israeli company SAIPS to strengthen its expertise in artificial intelligence and enhance computer vision and as part of its project to develop a fully autonomous vehicle and put it on the road by 2021.

The acquisition is estimated at tens of millions of dollars.

SAIPS has developed customized algorithmic solutions in image and video processing, deep learning, signal processing and classification. The technology enables computers to collect visual data through sensors and translate it into useful information.

“This expertise will help Ford autonomous vehicles learn and adapt to the surroundings of their environment,” Ford stated on Tuesday.

“The next decade will be defined by automation of the automobile, and we see autonomous vehicles as having as significant an impact on society as Ford’s moving assembly line did 100 years ago,” said Mark Fields, Ford president and CEO. “We’re dedicated to putting on the road an autonomous vehicle that can improve safety and solve social and environmental challenges for millions of people – not just those who can afford luxury vehicles.”

Ford said it has had its eyes on the Israeli company since 2013.

SAIPS will become an independent Ford-owned company and will continue to work with other companies, it said.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

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