Ford CEO says the company ‘overestimated’ self-driving cars
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| As we predicted, the idea of autonomous automobile computers replicating what the most powerful computer ever created can do (the human brain) is far far away |
Ford CEO Jim Hackett scaled back hopes about the company's plans for self-driving cars this week, admitting that the first vehicles will have limits. "We overestimated the arrival of autonomous vehicles," said Hackett, who once headed the company's autonomous vehicle division, at a Detroit Economic Club event on Tuesday. While Ford still plans on launching its self-driving car fleet in 2021, Hackett added that "its applications will be narrow, what we call geo-fenced, because the problem is so complex."
Hackett's announcement comes nearly six months after its CEO of autonomous vehicles, Sherif Markaby, detailed plans for the company's self-driving car service in a Medium post. The company has invested over $4 billion in the technology's development through 2023, including over $1 billion in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence company that is creating a virtual driver system. Ford is currently testing its self-driving vehicles in Miami, Washington, D.C. and Detroit.
Following years of hype and billions of dollars in investment, some other companies are admitting that expectations for self-driving cars were perhaps too high. Uber predicted earlier this week that its own fleet of autonomous cars would have a long wait until they finally hit the road. Waymo launched its self-driving taxi service late last year, but hasn't opened it to the general public or expanded it beyond a few geo-fenced areas in Phoenix, Arizona.