Ford announced Ford Pro AI, a new chatbot for its telematic software subscribers. The tool enables fleet managers to simplify their workloads.
Ford has announced a new AI-powered service for its commercial fleet and telematics software customers called Ford Pro AI. The generative AI system analyzes data generated by commercial vehicles, including vehicle speed, seat belt activity and engine health, and converts it into actionable insights for fleet managers.
The new system manifests itself as follows: what else? — an AI chatbot integrated into Ford’s telematics software allowing customers to ask questions about their fleet or delegate tasks. Managers can ask the chatbot for recommendations to reduce fuel costs, information about specific vehicles in their fleet, or even write emails to a supervisor summarizing the outcome of their previous requests. The interface resembles OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, although Ford declined to name the specific model it was using.
Kevin Dunbar, general manager of Ford Pro Intelligence, said Ford Pro AI won’t just be your standard big-language chatbot, but rather a tool that uses “precise, manufacturer-grade vehicle data” to generate accurate and reliable responses.
“The result is a multi-agent architecture built on clean, well-structured data from each
The customer’s separate fleet reduces the potential for AI hallucinations,” Dunbar said during a briefing with reporters.
Like most automakers, Ford is integrating more AI-based features into its products as it strives to keep pace with the rapidly changing times. The company uses AI to speed up its vehicle design process and has integrated a chatbot into its smartphone app to help its passenger vehicle customers solve problems such as how much mulch can fit in the bed of an F-150.
Ford now aims to bring this technology to the more than 840,000 paying subscribers of its Ford Pro telematics software to help them manage their commercial vehicle fleets. Vehicles do not need to be specifically Ford-branded, as the new AI feature will work with any vehicle equipped with built-in modems capable of transmitting data to the telematics platform. Ford said this reflects the reality that many commercial fleets operate vehicles from multiple manufacturers rather than relying on a single brand.
The new AI tool will be included in the existing Ford Pro telematics subscription, meaning customers will not need to pay extra to use it. The service is currently only available to fleet managers who use the company’s telematics software, and there are currently no plans to make it available to commercial drivers via the mobile app or in-vehicle software.
Ford Pro AI operates in read-only mode and will still require a human being involved to perform certain tasks. In this way, Ford emphasizes that it is not trying to replace human labor, but rather to automate certain tasks and improve workflows. Fleet management is “a high-friction, physical and emotional job,” said Britta Farrow, Ford Pro communications manager. “Ford Pro AI can handle a lot of operational data processing, which exhausts fleet managers.”
“It still requires human intervention,” Farrow added. “We don’t see a future where this completely eliminates this technology. »
Ford didn’t disclose which models in broad language it was using to power Ford Pro AI, describing it as “model-agnostic,” similar to its Ford AI Assistant for its smartphone app. All they would say is that the feature is built on Google Cloud infrastructure. (Last year, Ford Chief Financial Officer Sherry House said Ford would integrate Google’s Gemini into its vehicles. The company also has deals with OpenAI, Anthropic and China’s DeepSeek, according to The Wall Street Journal.)
