Keeping people safe and helping limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus will not prevent Ford from providing more than 600 students valuable professional experience through the company's annual summer internship program.

The 2020 internship class will telecommute to work, just as Ford employees across the country are doing as the company goes about its business differently amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

College students from around the United States are hired every summer into Ford's internship programme, where they work for several weeks in connected vehicles, design, marketing and a host of other departments.

Ford found a way to carry on the internship programs by shipping laptop computers and headsets to interns so they can work from home.

Start dates for the internships began in June of 2020, with students participating in virtual orientation on their first day. Their eight-week summer projects will provide a new type of hands-on experience in a virtual workplace. Interns will still have regular check-ins with their supervisors and skill teams, and the programme will include numerous virtual social events.