Ford Motor announced on Thursday, December 14, 2017, that it would be creating a new base for its development of self-driving and electric cars. The company will move more than 200 high-level employees, a unit known as Team Edison, into a renovated garment factory near the former site of Tiger Stadium in Corktown, less than a mile from Detroit’s central business district.
“By relocating the group from its corporate campus in nearby Dearborn, Ford is embracing its Motor City roots and creating an urban work environment similar to a Silicon Valley start-up,” wrote journalist Bill Vlasic in a recent New York Times article on Ford’s plan “to take on Silicon Valley.”
According to Sherif Marakby, head of Team Edison, “The city of Detroit makes for a perfect setting for the team… It’s a very tech-friendly environment with collaborative work spaces that we think is exciting for the city and exciting for Ford.”
Ford expects to build its first autonomous, hybrid gas-electric vehicle in Detroit within the next three to four years.
