Uber poaches a top Ford engineer to help build self-driving cars

Add Ford to the list of companies that are being pillaged by Uber in its quest to excel in the hyper-competitive world of self-driving cars. Sherif Marakby, director of global electronics and engineering at Ford, is joining Uber as vice president of global vehicle programs, the ride-hail company told The Verge Thursday. Marakby will relocate from Detroit to Pittsburgh, where Uber is busy expanding its Advanced Technologies Center.

In Pittsburgh, Marakby will oversee “manufacturer strategy and integration efforts,” which may or may not include the actual construction of autonomous vehicles. (Uber wouldn’t say whether its building its own self-driving cars, although the company is said to be shopping for a fleet of vehicles in Germany.)

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This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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