PALO ALTO, Calif. – Transportation technology developments announced by Ford last week are brining autonomous vehicles and wearables closer to consumer use.

First, the company announced that autonomous vehicle technology is another step closer to production, moving from a research effort to an advanced engineering program.

With the transition to advanced engineering, autonomous driving technology enters the second of three phases in the process of bringing the feature to market. The global team at Ford is now working to make the required sensing and computing technology feasible for production and continuing testing and refinement of algorithms.

Ford also announced its new development in wearable technology with its soon-to-be-released MyFord Mobile app extension for smartwatches, including Android Wear.

The MyFord Mobile app, which is already available for smartphones, provides customers the ability to check the driving range and battery charge for their plug-in hybrid or electric vehicle quickly from their wrists before they leave on a trip, and find the location where they last parked. The app also shows users how their vehicle performed on gas mileage after each trip.

Ford CEO Mark Fields gave a speech last week to show that the company is tech savvy, writes USA Today, saying that Ford is now a "mobility company," not just an automaker. That means finding transportation solutions that go beyond just vehicles. Smart watches, says Fields, can play a part in that.