Ford’s new GT has more lines of code than a Boeing jet airliner

By Stephen Edelstein Published May 21, 2015

The new Ford GT isn’t a car for minimalists. It’s got a lot of power, a lot of grip, and thanks to a racecar-wide stance, it takes up a lot of room on the road.

There’s also one more thing the Ford GT has a lot of: code.

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You wouldn’t think a car would require more lines of code to operate than a jet airplane, but the GT beats out a couple of the most high-tech planes in the sky when it comes to code, according to Australia’s Car Advice.

Speaking to the website and other media outlets at a recent technical presentation, Ford Performance chief engineer Jamal Hameedi said the GT has 10 million lines of “mission critical” code.

That’s three million more than can be found in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and eight million more than in a Lockheed F-22 Raptor fighter. And Ford didn’t do that on purpose.

The GT apparently has too much computing power. The company was forced to use off-the-shelf components for some of the car’s control systems, which means it wasn’t able to tailor software the way it would have if engineers had started from scratch, Hameedi said.

Aircraft manufacturers are actually working to reduce the complexity of software used in their airplanes. Boeing reportedly made significant cuts in the amount of code used in the 787 compared to previous airliners.

Ford believes its superabundance of code could be for the better, though, claiming the extra computing power will allow the GT’s electronic systems to provide more assistance to a novice driver on the track. Homed said the car will be faster on track with the traction control left on, even with an expert driver behind the wheel.

The GT’s 50 onboard sensors and 28 microprocessors should at least give expert human drivers a run for their money, and reduce the likelihood of a fiery death for those who don’t wear helmets to work.

All of that tech will help harness the power of a 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V6, which Ford says will produce at least 600 horsepower. It’s based on the engines used in Tudor United SportsCar Championship Daytona Prototypes.

Ford is expected to build just 250 cars per year, and they could be priced at up to $400,000 each. That apparently buys a lot of code.

Stephen Edelstein

Former Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

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