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Ford adds third shift at F-150 plant to keep up with demand

The signs have been very positive for Ford's F-Series line of pickup trucks as of late, and after 24 consecutive months of increasing sales of the best-selling F-150, the automaker has added a third production crew at its Kansas City Assembly Plant that includes 900 new hourly workers to meet demand for the truck. This the first step in Ford's plan to add 2,000 hourly jobs at the plant to help meet demand for its trucks and to begin production of the new Transit van, the automaker says.
Despite some tough new competition, sales of the F-Series are the strongest they've been since 2006, according to Ford. The automaker sold 60,449 F-Series in July, the best sales figure for the mid-summer month since 2006, which also represents a 23 percent increase compared to July 2012. From January to July 2013, sales were up 22 percent compared to the same period last year.
Ford has committed to creating 12,000 hourly jobs by 2015, and with the 900 new employees added to the assembly plant in Missouri, the company says it has completed 75 percent of its goal. Ford has also invested $1.1 billion to retool and expand the Kansas City Assembly Plant to ready it for Transit production. Take a look at the press release below for more job and F-Series sales information.

Mustang pinball game will feature art by Ford GT designer

To celebrate 50 years of Mustang, Ford and Stern Pinball are collaborating on a new pinball machine that will feature the muscle car in all its glory, Polygon reports. Even better, Camilo Pardo, the guy who designed the Ford GT, will provide art for the table; Tanner Foust, Top Gear USA host and professional driver, will handle narrating duties; and a Sony Music soundtrack spanning five decades will provide the tunes.
"The Mustang is one of the most iconic, American cars ever made... What better way to celebrate 50 years of Mustang than with the launch of the Ford Mustang pinball game?" says Stern Pinball CEO Gary Stern.
Watch the promotional trailer for the upcoming Mustang pinball machine below, which will have to hold you over until pricing and availability are announced in early 2014.

Automotive Grade Linux will be the backbone of your connected car

Creating a backend for a secure, reliable, and expandable infotainment system is costly and time consuming. The Linux Foundation, a non-profit organization, has set out to promote and advance the Linux operating system in commercial products. Automotive Grade Linux, or AGL, is a group within the Foundation that seeks to apply a Linux backend to a number of automotive applications in a variety of vehicles from various suppliers and manufacturers. AGL's goal is to create a common, unifying framework that allows developers and manufacturers to easily implement applications across platforms. Currently, the focus is on infotainment systems, but AGL has plans for instrument clusters, heads-up displays, and eventually active safety software. At CES, a display from Panasonic showed a completely digital and customizable dashboard that allows information and apps to be moved from the gauge cluster to the infotainment screen and back, all through the use of gesture and touch controls. Although the organization has been around for five years, it's really only been in the past three that the group has been working hand in hand with automakers and suppliers. The first two OEMs to participate, Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover, have since been joined by Mazda, Suzuki, Ford, and, as of this week, Daimler. The latter is important as until now most of AGL's partner's have been based in Japan or the US. Other partners include suppliers Denso, Renesas, Continental, Qualcomm, and Intel. AGL want's to supply roughly 80 percent of the backend, allowing partners to then finish and refine the Linux system for each individual application. Think of how the Android operating system is refined and customized for individual smartphones from Samsung, LG, and Motorola. While the final product looks different, developers can have an application that will work across all AGL systems. Because it is open source, anyone can use and develop for AGL. You can even go onto the group's website and download a copy right now. There is also a software development kit available that helps facilitate app creation on the platform. Vehicle development cycles take roughly five years, so there currently are no cars that run an AGL backbone available for consumers. AGL Executive Director Dan Cauchy says products should be hitting the market later this year, with even more coming in 2018. Right now, the industry is relatively fragmented when it comes to infotainment and related systems.