By Marcia Heroux Pounds, Reporter - Sun Sentinel

Ford Motor Co. has quietly hired workers at the former BlackBerry plant in Sunrise to do autonomous vehicle research.

The plant at 1200 Sawgrass Corporate Pkwy in Sunrise is one of five BlackBerry software company sites that the Dearborn, Mich.-based automobile giant has assumed, along with hiring the workers, according to reports by Bloomberg and the Associated Press.

Neither Ford nor BlackBerry could immediately be reached for comment.

Bob Swindell, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance confirmed the Sunrise transfer this week.

In 2016, Ontario-based BlackBerry laid off 75 workers in Sunrise.

The first BlackBerry was launched in 1999, and it was popular with executives because it offered secure corporate and government email. President Obama was the first commander in chief to carry a specially secured cellphone, a BlackBerry.

But as smartphone competitors came on the market, the company began losing market share. In 2013, the company took back the name of BlackBerry and unveiled a long-delayed line of smartphones. In 2018, the company is still struggling to make a come-back, according to industry reports.

AP reported last year that Ford was investing in a new Ottawa Research and Engineering Centre in Canada to “focus on research and development across infotainment, in-vehicle modems, gateway modules, driver-assist features and autonomous vehicles.”

One goal by Ford is to patent a driverless police car that uses artificial intelligence to identify lawbreakers, according to a story in January by The Washington Post.

 

 

Show Other Stories