Look For the Ford Brand On Autonomous Cars By 2021

The future, the one shown in movies wherein they slip in new technology that is common in their time and someone conveniently doesn’t know what it is so it’s explained to the audience, is quickly drawing near. Ford is looking ahead with the bold claim of having a serviceable amount of autonomous cars in 2021. For those numerically impaired, that’s five years. The cars CEO Mark Fields is talking about are car-sharing and ride-hailing cars. He also mentions that these will ideally be inhabiting  urban areas.

While 2021 may be surprising, there are several other companies with an even shorter deadline, hinting that the future of transportation is changing quicker than previously imagined. Google, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz are pointing out 2020 as the year in which they want to release similar cars. A market for semi-autonomous cars has already sprung up, with such companies as the aforementioned Mercedes and appropriately named Tesla showcasing cars with aspects of autonomy.

Ford, however, is speaking to those who do want to put a finger on the steering wheel. Full-autonomy, and nothing less, facilitates Ford’s claim. Several of the companies who deem autonomy a goal have paired themselves with car-sharing services, such as GM with Lyft and Apple with Didi, a Chinese service for car-sharing. While Apple won’t give explicit claim to developing such a car, their resources for such things, Silicon Valley and Maps, point towards their bid in said market. Fields commented that  “autonomous vehicles could potentially have the same impact on society that Henry Ford’s moving assembly line had.” It’s interesting to think that Ford, which has been a company for about one hundred and ten years, is trying once again to change how America moves. The feeling is both emboldening to American engineering and also a little unsettling that one company could have a profound influence on a handful of American generations.

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