Ford to install Google's Android operating system on all new vehicles starting in 2023
01 February 2021
Ford will install Google's Android operating system on all new vehicles starting in 2023, giving passengers access to more personalized services in their car and potentially unlocking new lines of business for the automaker.
Why it matters: Ford's decision, part of a broader technology partnership with the tech giant, is an acknowledgement that carmakers need Silicon Valley's help to adapt to seismic changes in the transportation industry.
- Embedding the proven Android operating system in their cars lets automakers devote more resources to creating customized in-car experiences while also providing access to familiar Google apps.
- Yes, but: the risk is that automakers lose control over future revenue from in-car data and related businesses.
Flashback: "At the end of the day we don’t want to end up as the handset business," CEO Mark Fields told my Axios colleague Ina Fried in 2015 when she was at Re/code.
Driving the news: To address that risk, Ford and Google are establishing a new group called Team Upshift, comprised of employees from both companies, to focus on innovation.
- The group will aim to "push the boundaries of Ford’s transformation, unlock personalized consumer experiences, and drive disruptive, data-driven opportunities," David McClelland, Ford's vice president of strategy and partnerships, wrote in a blog post.
- Projects could include: modernizing Ford plants through vision AI, or creating new buying experiences and leveraging connected vehicle data.
By the numbers: Gartner predicts that by 2023, in-vehicle transaction payments will total $1 billion, up from less than $100 million in 2020.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.