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Ford CEO Jim Hackett Tamps Down Expectations for First Autonomous Vehicles
Too much hype has built up about how soon self-driving cars will hit the road, but they will ultimately change the world, Ford Motor Co.鈥檚 CEO Jim Hackett said.
鈥淲e overestimated the arrival of autonomous vehicles,鈥 Hackett said April 9 at a Detroit Economic Club event. While Ford鈥檚 first self-driving car is still coming in 2021, 鈥渋ts applications will be narrow, what we call geo-fenced, because the problem is so complex.鈥
Hackett is engineering an $11 billion overhaul of Ford, which involves closing factories, cutting thousands of salaried jobs and ditching traditional sedans to focus on high profit sport-utility vehicles and trucks. In addition to shoring up profitability, the drastic moves are borne out of the pressure car companies are under to get autonomous-vehicle technology on the road before rivals inside and outside the auto industry.
Ford Motor Co. CEO, Jim Hackett (Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg News)
鈥淲hen we break through, it will change the way your toothpaste is delivered,鈥 Hackett said at Ford Field, the football stadium of the Detroit Lions, owned by the family of Executive Chairman Bill Ford. 鈥淟ogistics and ride structures and cities all get redesigned. I won鈥檛 be in charge of Ford when this is going on, but I see it clearly.鈥
Ford recently earned kudos from President Donald Trump for investing $900 million to build electric and self-driving cars in Michigan and $1 billion on two factories in Chicago to build Explorer SUVs. Hackett also is in talks with Volkswagen AG to jointly develop electric vehicles and driverless cars. The two automakers already have joined forces to build commercial vans and trucks.
鈥淲hen we bring this thing to market, it鈥檚 going to be really powerful,鈥 Hackett said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 probably going to be alliance partners that we haven鈥檛 announced yet that will make it more certain that we don鈥檛 take on all the risks ourselves financially.鈥
