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Ford CEO Urges Wider Outlook for Driverless-Car Project
CEO Jim Hackett is pushing Ford Motor Co. to think more expansively about how to apply the fully autonomous vehicle technology it plans to introduce in 2021.
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CEO Jim Hackett is pushing Ford Motor Co. to think more expansively about how to apply the fully autonomous vehicle technology it plans to introduce in 2021.
Ford CEO Jim Hackett (Image: Ford)
Until now, the company has said the self-driving vehicle it’s developing—which won’t have a steering wheel, brake pedal or accelerator—will go into service for shuttle work over fixed routes. But Hackett tells the Detroit News he wants to avoid committing to a final product too soon.
Hackett notes the perils of trying to define an emerging before it emerges. Ford is developing the software to control its driverless car with artificial intelligence startup Argo AI. In February Ford agreed to invest $1 billion over five years in the Pittsburgh, Pa.-based company.
Their aim is to develop a software platform for so-called Level 4 vehicles, meaning those that can drive themselves under almost any conditions with no need for human backup.
Argo CEO Bryan Salesky tells the News notes that fully robotic vehicles could be used to deliver freight instead of people, for example. He says Argo and Ford are evaluating which vehicles and business models would be the most successful.
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