Pryor Cashman Client Signs Exclusive Licensing Deal to Apply Groundbreaking Technology to Ford’s Autonomous Car
Pryor Cashman client, Nirenberg Neuroscience LLC (“Nirenberg”), founded by New York neuroscientist and MacArthur “genius,” Dr. Sheila Nirenberg, has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Ford Motor Co. to apply its groundbreaking “new machine vision technology” to the automaker’s forthcoming self-driving car.
In a recent article published in The Detroit News, Nirenberg and Ford executives discussed this potentially “game changing” partnership, which is expected to yield a fully autonomous vehicle by 2021. Using technology that Dr. Nirenberg initially developed to restore sight to individuals affected by certain forms of blindness, Ford believes it can engineer its driverless-car’s sensors to show the car only what it needs to see, enabling it to discern how quickly to drive, when to brake and where to turn, among other things.
“What Sheila Nirenberg and her team are doing just holds incredible promise for society, much less autonomous vehicles,” said Ford’s EVP of Product Development and Chief Technology Officer.
Dr. Nirenberg is currently conducting safety studies on her technology for treating blindness and hopes to begin clinical trials within the next year.
Pryor Cashman partner Jeffrey C. Johnson, a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property and Corporate Groups, negotiated the licensing deal on behalf of Nirenberg.
