The company will continue to improve current technologies
It seems that Ford, betting on electric vehicles, is abandoning the development of unmanned vehicles with a fourth level of autonomy. At least for now.
In a letter sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the company said it was not developing fully autonomous self-driving vehicles. Instead, Ford plans to limit its focus to improving and implementing Level 2 and Level 3 autonomous driving technologies in its vehicles.
Ford abandoned the development of unmanned vehicles with the fourth level of autonomy
The company says the road to fully self-driving vehicles with a profitable business model will be a long one: “For now, Ford has decided it makes more sense to focus on L2/L3 technologies.”
It is worth adding that so far no one has even come close to achieving the fourth level of unmanned driving. Even Tesla’s latest beta version of autonomous driving, which the company continues to improve and which has become one of the best systems, is still a level 2 autopilot where the driver must keep their eyes on the road and keep their hands on the wheel.
Mercedes has become the first automaker in the United States to receive certification for vehicles with a Level 3 self-driving system. The company said its Drive Pilot system will work on “suitable highway sections and in high-density areas” and that it can “take on the task of dynamic driving at speeds up to 64 km/h.”
