Ford is lifting the hood on its AV plans (F)
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On the heels of its partnershipwith Walmart that was announced last week, Ford has lifted the hood on its entire autonomous vehicle (AV) ecosystem in a Medium post authored by Sherif Marakby, the CEO of Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC.
Within the post, he reiterated plans to launch a self-driving mobility service — for both transportation and delivery purposes — in 2021 across multiple locations in the US. Below are some of the other top-level highlights and what they mean for both Ford and the industry at-large:
- Ford provided a graphic that indicated it plans to control the entire self-driving ecosystem, with one notable exception: the movement of products and people enabled by its AVs. Everything from the cars themselves to the self-driving technology to the management of the AV fleet will be done by Ford or its subsidiary Argo.ai. However, both its handful of partnerships — with firms like Walmart and Postmates — and Marakby's comments suggest Ford prefers an open ecosystem that enables partners and customers to hail rides or move products. That's a contrast with other firms that want to operate their own transportation and delivery service, like GM, for example.
- In addition, Marakby emphasized the opportunity for in-car services within its AVs. He argued that commutes could become work sessions inside a Ford AV, and that commuters could order a coffee on their way to work and have the AV pick it up. Further, Ford executives in the past have said that the company could add $100 in additional annual recurring value per vehicle just via in-car connectivity on AVs. Tapping into this value could also, for instance, involve Ford licensing out consumers' habits and preferences inside AVs — such as streaming or online shopping — to companies for marketing or advertising purposes.
- The automaker also hinted at using self-driving vehicles for non-emergency medical transports (NEMTs) like checkups at doctors offices. Marakby noted that Ford has experience in NEMTs through its GoRide medical transportation service. Still, the company may need to convince older consumers that its AVs are safe and reliable — seniors, in particular, account for the largest share of healthcare spending, and older consumers have less trust in the safety of AVs.
Ford is looking for as many uses cases as possible for its AVs to overcome its late entrance into the self-driving mobility space, but there's still a lot of work to be done on its part. Ford's 2021 launch target is a few years later than rivals like GM, Uber, and Alphabet's Waymo, and to overcome that it's actively exploring specific and valuable use cases for its AVs, like grocery deliveries and NEMTs.
But that'll require attracting a lot of partners, something Ford is working on already but may need to accelerate in the coming months. Further, to effectively lure sought-after partners and customers, Ford may need to undercut competitors or prove it offers a smoother, safer ride with its AVs.
SEE ALSO: Ford and Walmart are partnering on autonomous delivery