As for making the driverless cars available to the public as private vehicles, Ford Chief Technical Officer Raj Nair said the company believed that launching self-driving cars first for ride-sharing was a better plan to reach the mass market and make them more affordable.
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Based out of Dearborn, Michigan, Ford also announced an expansion of Ford’s presence in Silicon Valley, which will include creating a research and innovation campus, doubling the size of the company’s Palo Alto staff, and investing in new partnerships with companies working on self-driving technology. Tesla’s autopilot feature allows the auto to handle standard braking, accelerating and steering while on highways, but Tesla still recommends that drivers stay alert and prepared to take control of the vehicle. Ford rivals, including General Motors and Uber Technologies, are also developing self-driving vehicles for use in ride services.
But let’s just hit the brakes there for a second: don’t expect a flood of autonomous Ford vehicles in showroom anytime soon. It’s all part of Ford Smart Mobility, Dearborn’s plan to dramatically reshape the company’s strategy for this new, disrupted age of transportation.
In addition to those companies, Ford is working with Stanford University, MIT, the University of MI, and Achen University in Germany on this project.
Fiat has done a deal to collaborate with Google to develop autonomous minivans, while Toyota has taken a stake in Uber and Volkswagen has invested in Gett, the ride-booking service. Ford’s partners are also going to feel pressure to deliver.
As described on Velodyne LiDAR’s site, the units Velodyne produces use 3D and real-time sensors to measure distances via the time it takes a short laser pulse to travel from the sense to an object and back.
“We’re dedicated to putting on the road an autonomous vehicle that can improve safety and solve social and environmental challenges for millions of people – not just those who can afford luxury vehicles”, said Mark Fields, Ford president and CEO.
Nair says Ford plans to charge customers based on mileage travelled, offering transportation as a service, rather than vehicles as a product.
“There will be a growing per cent of the industry that will be fully autonomous vehicles”, Mr Fields said. “There will be a huge incentive for those companies to get their cars out there, running taxis without a driver”, Lu said.
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Unfortunately, some drivers have been over-estimating the car’s ability to drive itself.
