Ford (F.US) leverages AI to deeply mine the commercial vehicle gold mine: Monitoring 1 billion data points, aiming to digitize fleet management.

In order to increase profits and software service revenue for its Pro commercial vehicle division, Ford Motor Company (F.US) is launching a new artificial intelligence system. The Detroit automaker announced on Tuesday that the new system, "Ford Pro AI," can monitor and analyze over 1 billion data points daily from connected commercial vehicle fleets, covering everything from seatbelt usage, vehicle health status, route optimization to fuel consumption. Ford stated that this initiative is aimed at providing more efficient tools to its 840,000 commercial paying subscription users, allowing them to analyze their business and operations more easily, thereby increasing efficiency and profits, and reducing vehicle downtime. According to Ford, its Pro division saw a 30% growth in subscription users last year. "Helping them maximize vehicle uptime, increase productivity, and reduce costs is not only good business but also our core mission." Ford Pro Intelligent Business General Manager Kevin Dumba said in a media briefing, "Our team is helping to build the blueprint for the future of fleet operations." Ford Pro's fleet business includes sales to commercial, government, and leasing customers, as well as its Super Duty heavy-duty truck business. Ford CEO Jim Farley had previously stated that diversifying revenue for the Pro division, especially in software services, is a key growth area for the company. He noted that Ford's software and physical services (such as mobile services and repairs) are "rapidly approaching" the goal of accounting for 20% of Pro division profits. This new AI service will be included in Ford's remote information processing subscription service, which has helped the company achieve revenue growth and diversification. Ford Pro's annual revenue last year was $66 billion, with pre-tax profits reaching $6.8 billion and a profit margin of 10.3%. Dumba stated that the system is currently being launched in a proactive, read-only mode, but Ford will continue to explore expanding its capabilities to meet customer needs. According to Ford, Pro AI is built on Alphabet Inc. Class C cloud platform and utilizes proprietary data from the automaker.