Ford is intensifying its artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives to accelerate autonomous vehicle development, according to industry insiders.
In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Bryan Goodman, Bryan Goodman, Ford Motor’s director of artificial intelligence, emphasized the crucial role of AI agents, open-source models, and next-generation NVIDIA chips in the company’s tech arsenal.
Ford faces several challenges, including declining demand for electric vehicles (EVs), fierce market competition, and potential new U.S. tariff policies. Despite a revenue uptick in Q4, the automaker’s 2025 outlook has fallen short of expectations, putting pressure on its stock price.
Ford is betting on AI to streamline development cycles and boost competitiveness to counter these headwinds. The company is moving away from its time-consuming traditional process of clay modeling, followed by extensive simulations and testing.
Goodman explained that AI now enables rapid conversion of 2D sketches to 3D models, seamlessly integrating with the engineering phase.
Ford’s AI systems are dramatically improving the efficiency of physical testing predictions, such as computational fluid dynamics. Previously requiring 15 hours, these analyses can now be accomplished in just 10 seconds.
Goodman is particularly bullish on AI agents, envisioning a future where these tools can render images, generate 3D models, and perform stress analyses autonomously.
While leveraging solutions from tech giants such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, Ford is also tapping into open-source AI models like LLaMA, Mistral, and DeepSeek. Goodman praised DeepSeek’s open-source nature and competitive performance, stating that it could be the foundation for many implementations.
Ford is diverging from the industry trend of full-scale cloud migration by maintaining its own GPU data center. Goodman noted that while most computing has moved to the cloud, high-performance computing (HPC) and GPU operations remain in-house due to the prohibitive costs and limited availability of cloud-based GPU resources.
The automaker currently deploys thousands of NVIDIA GPUs and plans to adopt next-gen Blackwell chips. However, integrating these cutting-edge processors requires substantial upgrades to Ford’s power infrastructure upgrades.
Ultimately, Ford aims to outperform competitors in new vehicle launches through AI-powered design automation, predictive testing, and optimized computing. Goodman concluded that while AI is undoubtedly reshaping the auto industry, their focus isn’t on AI for its own sake. Instead, it’s about leveraging AI to build superior vehicles and elevate the customer experience.
