About 550 former Argo AI employees have been hired on by Ford Motor Co. to oversee the buildout of Latitude AI, a new Pittsburgh-based subsidiary of Ford to develop advanced hands-free driving features for vehicles…

With Latitude, Ford is hoping to further improve its advanced driver assistance technology called BlueCruise, which allows drivers in select Ford vehicles to take a hands-off approach to driving along many major highways and roads across the country so long as these drivers keep their eyes on the road, which the vehicle can monitor with driver-facing cameras. Eventually, Ford envisions that Latitude will develop a hands-free and eyes-off-the-road automated driving system for millions of its vehicles in the coming years…

Sammy Omari, executive director of ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) Technologies at Ford, has been tapped to serve as the CEO of Latitude. Peter Carr will serve as chief technology officer, and David Gollob is the subsidiary’s president.