Ford sees help from startups as key to managing industry changes

Ford Motor Chairman Bill Ford said the automaker will rely on startups much more than in its past as it attempts to navigate challenges to its traditional business, Automotive News reads.

Ford said the company was attempting to change its way of thinking and admit that it doesn’t always have the answers.

“We don’t have to be the disruptor,” he added. “We have to encourage disruptors and partner with them. Any corporation that thinks it has all the answers is either A, arrogant or B, ignorant. There’s no way.”

Ford in recent years has tried to make itself more attractive to startups. It launched a Ford X business incubator last year, and is currently renovating an iconic train station in Detroit, Mich., that it plans to use as the focal point of an autonomous and electrification campus that will bring in other suppliers and young companies.

The automaker is expected to formally open an R&D center in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to help tap into the region’s booming mobility startup scene.