Ford CEO Mark Fields (Photo : Reuters)
During its CES 2015 presentation, Ford Motors Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields said that autonomous or driverless cars are possible and will be the cars of the future.
The Ford CEO also estimates that within the span of less than five years there will be a company out there who can put a driverless car on the road
According to Fields, the main target of Ford is to be the first automaker to mass-produce driverless cars. He also emphasized that Ford is not in competition to be the first ever company to release a driverless car. Right now the focus of Ford is mobility.
One of the topics tackled during the Ford presentation was its project called Smart Mobility. The project is a series of experiments that would deal with data analytics and the proposed car swap program of Ford.
It was also reported that Ford is currently developing a technology that would enable smartphone users to automatically park their car.
The Ford presentation has four visions of its future, first the fast urbanization of key cities around the world; the ongoing transfer of wealth and power from the higher elite to the middle class; environment awareness especially air pollution; and finally the drastic change in terms of buying trends of the youth. However, the most attention grabbing part of the presentation is Ford's vision on the future of the driverless car.
Right now, only a handful of companies are in the race into who is going to put a driverless car in the public roads first. Daimler AG as unveiled its F015 concept vehicle, a driverless luxury car. Tesla Motors claims that their company will be the first to release a driverless car but has not elaborated as to how.
Ford on the other hand does not share the same sentiment. According to Mr. Fields, his company's interest is pegged to the idea that they will be the first company to mass produce driverless cars thus making it more affordable and within the reach of the masses.
