Ford says personal ownership of self-driving cars will come later.
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The second-biggest US automaker said earlier Tuesday that it’s doubling the number of people at its Silicon Valley technical center while expanding to two more buildings.
Ford said the vehicle would be “specifically designed for commercial mobility services” and built in high volumes.
Ford’s announcement leaves many crucial strategy details still undecided.
“Our goal was to become a member of the community”, said Ken Washington, Ford’s vice president, research and advanced engineering said in a statement.
Ford Chief Technical Officer Raj Nair said the company likely will not offer a similar driverless auto without steering wheel or pedals to consumers until 2025 or later.
“We plan to initially provide this service in urban areas and then scale up to other areas”, Washington said.
“This is a transformational moment in our industry and it is a transformational moment for our company”, Fields said.
Ford Motor Co. today said it plans to introduce an autonomous vehicle by 2021 for use in a ride-hailing or ride-sharing service.
Driving autonomous vehicle leadership Building on more than a decade of autonomous vehicle research and development, Ford’s first fully autonomous vehicle will be a Society of Automotive Engineers-rated level 4-capable vehicle without a steering wheel or gas and brake pedals.
Nair says Ford will continue developing driver-assist systems, like automatic emergency braking or lane departure warning.
He made the comments while disclosing that Ford and Chinese search engine firm Baidu each plan to invest $75 million in Velodyne, a Silicon Valley firm that produces sensors that are a critical component to the technology of self-driving cars.
Earlier this year, Ford invested in Silicon Valley firm, Civil Maps, for advanced mapping for self-driving vehicles.
“We have a strategic advantage because of our ability to combine the software and sensing technology with the sophisticated engineering necessary to manufacture high-quality vehicles”, Nair said.
Ford said it expects to deploy 30 self-driving Fusion Hybrid prototypes this year, and 90 next year.
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SAIPS: Ford has acquired the Israel-based computer vision and machine learning company to further strengthen its expertise in artificial intelligence and enhance computer vision.
