Ford says personal ownership of self-driving cars will come later. Jin Wang, senior vice president and general manager of Baidu’s autonomous driving unit touched on this point when he explained that “our investment will accelerate our efforts in autonomous driving with what, in our view, are the best LiDAR sensors available today and advance Velodyne’s development of increasingly sophisticated LiDAR sensors”. Almost three dozen companies are developing autonomous-car technology, according to CB Insights, and BMW and Volvo plan to release their own driverless cars by 2021 as well. Google and Apple are also involved in the race to produce driverless vehicles. And its plan to get there appears to be the most robust the public has seen yet.
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“Whether you want to do work, whether you want entertainment… those are the types of things we are thinking about as we design the experience for this type of autonomous vehicle”. “It’s not about level three automation – that would still require a driver”, he said.
The mass-produced vehicle will not have a steering wheel or pedals and is being designed with ride-sharing services in mind.
To achieve this goal, Ford announced it has invested in four technology startups. Laser sensors – called Lidar, which stands for light, detection and ranging – can also be used in conventional vehicles as part of driver assist systems such as automatic emergency braking.
Ford has also formed a partnership with New York-based Nirenberg Neuroscience LLC, a machine vision company that has developed devices for restoring sight to patients with degenerative eye diseases.
Research and Innovation Center Palo Alto’s multi-disciplinary research and innovation is the newest of almost a dozen of Ford’s global research, innovation, IT and engineering centers. It will hire researchers and business-development staff to expand into new transportation services, according to The Wall Street Journal. The auto will initially be used for commercial ride-hailing or ride-sharing services, with sales to consumers coming later. It expects to offer these vehicles to consumers later in the decade. The companies are aiming to mass-produce a more affordable sensor in the future.
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“This is a transformational moment in our industry and it is a transformational moment for our company”, said CEO Mark Fields, as he announced the plan Tuesday at Ford’s Silicon Valley campus in Palo Alto, California.
