Ford To Create Driverless Cars In A League Of Its Own

However, the catch was that those cars won't be bearing a Ford emblem. Fields was referring to companies like Daimler AG DDAIF and Tesla Motors Inc TSLA, which have been racing to produce a safe, fully autonomous car and get it on the roads as quickly as possible. Ford, on the other hand, is taking its time to figure out a way to incorporate the technology into a car that the middle class can afford.

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Ford Pushes For Autonomous Car

Luxury vehicles like Tesla's Model S have already incorporated self-driving features, and it is only a matter of time before those features become even more comprehensive. However, according to Fields' keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2016), Ford is moving aggressively into the driverless car space as well, but with a focus on affordability. The company is planning to test around 30 self-driving hybrid Fusions on public roads in the coming year, the auto industry's largest autonomous-car test to date.

A Smart Start

While the majority of carmakers looking rerelease autonomous driving features in the coming year plan to do so on higher range cars, Ford is taking a different route by promising that its self-drive features will be added to affordable cars. This could be a smart move as more automakers release similar autopilot features. While their cars will be competing with one another in the luxury market, Ford will be able to offer one of the only low-cost options.