Ford Motor Company has created Ford Autonomous Vehicles as a separate company for its self-driving business.

The new organisation will incorporate all aspects of Ford’s autonomous vehicle (AV) business.

These include the company’s self-driving systems integration, autonomous vehicle research and advanced engineering, AV transportation-as-a-service network development, user experience, business strategy and business development teams.

The new organisation will be based at Ford’s Corktown campus in Detroit, US, and will take on third-party investment. It will hold Ford’s stake in Argo AI, the partner for the company’s self-driving system development.

“Now is the right time to consolidate our autonomous driving platform into one team to best position the business for the opportunities ahead.”

By 2023, Ford expects to invest $4bn in its AV efforts, including its $1bn investment in Argo AI.

The existing Ford Autonomous Vehicles and Electrification vice-president Sherif Marakby has been appointed as CEO of the new company.

Ford said in a statement: “The closer alignment of the self-driving platform and the mobility solutions teams will allow faster development of businesses that can thrive in the pre and post-autonomous vehicle worlds.”

Ford Motor Company president and CEO Jim Hackett said: “Ford has made tremendous progress across the self-driving value chain, from technology development to business model innovation to user experience.”

“Now is the right time to consolidate our autonomous driving platform into one team to best position the business for the opportunities ahead.”

Additionally, the company is reorganising its global operations division led by executive vice-president Joe Hinrichs.

This will include integrating the company’s information technology order-to-delivery system, as well as the teams, technologies and processes across Ford’s production system.