Ford erases 'alien' image in Silicon Valley

When Ford Motor Co came to Noah Shanok’s San Francisco startup about using his technology, he expected it to be like meeting strangers from another planet.

“We thought we might have been like aliens,” said Shanok, the 35-year-old CEO of Stitcher, whose software lets users collect talk-radio programs on one custom channel. “It became quickly clear when talking to the leadership at Ford that we were smart people looking at problems together.”

The meeting, which led Ford to add Stitcher to its voice-activated Sync entertainment system, typifies Detroit automakers’ new approach to technology. Ford, Chrysler Group and other car companies are counting on Silicon Valley to help boost sales and shake off their image as slow adopters of innovations. That means working with startups on iPhone-style apps, adding staff in the Bay Area, and giving drivers freer range over the software and hardware that go into their cars.

The three biggest sellers of vehicles in the US — General Motors, Ford and Toyota — are all banking on so-called infotainment technology to help them gain market share, said Jim Hall, principal with consulting firm 2953 Analytics Inc in Birmingham, Michigan.

While Ford has been selling Sync for three years, the company stepped up its focus on technology as it tried to pull out of the recession. Ford buyers cited the Sync system as critical to their purchase 32 per cent of the time.