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The MathWorks Control Design Tools Selected by Ford's Powertrain Group

23 February 1999

The MathWorks Control Design Tools Selected by Ford's Powertrain Group; Ford Motor Company Invests in the Industry's Leading Control Design Tools

    NATICK, Mass.--(AutomotiveWire)--Feb. 22, 1999--The MathWorks, Inc. today announced that Ford Motor Company has purchased the MathWorks control design software tools to provide seamless computer-aided engineering support for the development of Ford's powertrain control systems. Using the MathWorks control design solution, which includes MATLAB, Simulink, Stateflow, and Real-Time Workshop, Ford is enhancing its powertrain control system development environment. The company is focusing on increasing quality and performance while reducing development costs, time to market, and engineering resource requirements.
    Ford's powertrain control system is an on-vehicle microcontroller used to manage powertrain functions such as fuel economy, emissions, and drive quality. Ford now uses MATLAB, Simulink and their supporting products to implement the key control algorithms and logic for the powertrain. Before choosing the MathWorks tools, Ford relied on a design process that was based on hardware prototypes, which often required an excessive amount of testing, iteration, time, and development resources. Now, Ford is using MATLAB for filtering and analyzing vehicle data, while using the power of Simulink and Stateflow to rapidly design and simulate software prototypes of its ideas. Through this advanced process, Ford's design engineers can test and modify algorithms quickly and accurately. As a result, Ford engineers can rapidly try and test numerous computer simulations before actually building hardware prototypes.
    Since announcing its relationship with Ford in October 1997, The MathWorks has worked closely with the company to better understand its specific requirements for control design tools. The resulting relationship has led to the development of new enhancements to the Simulink, Stateflow, and Real-Time Workshop products that not only meet Ford's design requirements, but also boost the effectiveness of those tools for the entire automotive industry. Leveraging its relationship with The MathWorks, Ford is redefining its entire powertrain control system development process to include MATLAB, Simulink, Stateflow, and other MathWorks products to be used in Ford facilities worldwide.
    "This latest purchase by Ford is a milestone," said Jack Little, President of The MathWorks. "It underscores a commitment to a new way of working with our tools and our team, a commitment that will have a powerful impact on the automotive industry. Last year, we announced our strategic relationship with Ford. Since then, our engineers have worked together, both in Natick and Detroit, to specify and implement enhancements to our products that have substantially increased Ford's development effectiveness."
    In the past few years, the MathWorks software design tools for the automotive industry have experienced tremendous growth. Because The MathWorks has gained the trust of DaimlerChrysler, Ford and other top auto manufacturers, the number of MATLAB and Simulink seats in the automotive industry have also grown, up over 490% from 1994 through 1998, with an increasing number of Real-Time Workshop and Stateflow seats purchased each year. The MathWorks family of design tools enable automotive engineers and designers to work in one integrated environment for modeling, algorithm development, system simulation and real-time prototyping.

About The MathWorks, Inc.

    Established in 1984, The MathWorks, Inc., a company of 500 people based in Natick, Mass., develops, markets, and supports MATLAB, Simulink, and a family of data analysis toolboxes for engineers, scientists, and technical professionals. MATLAB provides the foundation and computational engine for all of the MathWorks products. Widely recognized as the industry's premier language for technical computing, MATLAB provides comprehensive math and visualization functionality, and a powerful high-level language for users to interactively explore, analyze, design, and prototype solutions to their problems. Simulink is a graphical, block-diagram environment for modeling, analyzing, and simulating a broad range of dynamic nonlinear systems. Application toolboxes are available for specialized functions. The MathWorks products are used throughout the world in industries such as automotive, aerospace, environmental, telecommunications, computer peripherals, finance, and medical. More than 400,000 users at the world's leading industrial, government, and education organizations rely on The MathWorks products for tremendous gains in productivity.