Ford CTO Ken Washington (left) is leaving the automaker for Amazon in July.FordDETROIT – Ford Motor is dropping its chief know-how officer to Amazo
Ford CTO Ken Washington (left) is leaving the automaker for Amazon in July.
Ford
DETROIT – Ford Motor is dropping its chief know-how officer to Amazon, marking an ongoing expertise battle between the automotive and know-how industries.
Ford confirmed Thursday that CTO Ken Washington, who joined Ford from Lockheed Martin in 2014, will probably be leaving the Detroit automaker efficient July 16. He’ll be a part of Amazon as vice chairman of software program engineering in Sunnyvale, California, in line with an inside worker memo supplied by Ford.
Washington’s departure is a serious blow for the automaker, which is accelerating billions of {dollars} in new investments for related, electrical and autonomous automobiles below a brand new turnaround plan by CEO Jim Farley.
Jim Buczkowski, who has been answerable for analysis and design {of electrical} and digital programs, will probably be taking over interim accountability for Ford’s analysis and superior engineering staff whereas a everlasting successor for Washington is recognized, in line with the automaker.
Amazon didn’t instantly reply for touch upon the rent, which was first reported by the Detroit Free Press.
The automotive and know-how industries are more and more battling for expertise with the emergence of related automobiles and firms from either side researching and creating autonomous automobiles. Automotive start-up corporations resembling Lucid and Rivian are also vying for prime expertise from each sectors.
Tech corporations have been successful in recent times. Ford misplaced two advertising and marketing executives to Google and Fb in 2020. Common Motors final yr additionally misplaced CFO Dhivya Suryadevara, digital funds firm Stripe, and, earlier than that, Alicia Boler Davis, who led GM’s international manufacturing, to Amazon.