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Ford looks to the IoT for its next CEO (F)
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Ford Motors is replacing ousted CEO Mark Fields with Jim Hackett, who had been the head of the automaker's subsidiary responsible for autonomous development, reports the New York Times.
Ford's board of directors is reportedly concerned that Ford is not properly positioned to develop and deploy self-driving vehicles in the years to come, and that the company could end up behind competitors in getting riders into its autonomous cars.
Ford has been looking to develop self-driving car technology, promising to have fully autonomous vehicles on the road by 2021 as part of a ride-sharing service. The automaker is developing these vehicles with two simultaneous efforts: one to build a car that can travel without a driver, and another to create a software suite that can autonomously control such a vehicle. These parallel projects have been expensive investments for Ford, which like other automakers has had to almost fully redesign its vehicles, building up redundancies in systems to compensate for the lack of a driver to, for instance, apply an emergency brake if the primary system fails.
Despite heavy spending to position itself for the autonomous age, Ford’s path to actually getting consumers into its self-driving vehicles remains murky. Last year the Ford Smart Mobility unit — until recently helmed by now-CEO Hackett — acquired Chariot, a crowd-sourced shuttle service, and this year will expand its operations to eight cities. But Ford hasn’t partnered with a major ride-hailing provider (like competitor GM has with Lyft, for instance) or publicly discussed its own version of such a service (like Tesla has with the Tesla Network).
To succeed, Ford needs to define a concrete plan that ends with consumers riding in its self-driving cars. Legacy automakers are in a good position to exploit their brand recognition and history — 26% of respondents trust them the most to develop self-driving cars, according to a BI Intelligence survey — but need to adapt their operations and strategies to transform from automakers to true autonomous mobility providers.
The self-driving car is no longer a futuristic fantasy. Consumers can already buy vehicles that, within a few years time, will get software updates enabling them to hit the road without the need for a driver.
This autonomous revolution will upend the automotive sector and disrupt huge swaths of the economy, while radically improving energy efficiency and changing the way people approach transport around the world.
Automakers and tech companies are racing to develop the technology that will power self-driving cars in the coming years. That tech is advancing, but leaves observers with a bigger question: will consumers trust driverless car tech, and will they want to use autonomous cars?
Peter Newman, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on self-driving cars that analyzes the market, and forecasts vehicle shipments and market penetration. It also profiles the players expected to take on a prominent role in the autonomous future, examines the barriers to autonomous car development and adoption, and reviews developments in technology, regulation, and consumer sentiment. Finally, it analyzes the impact the introduction of autonomy will have on various industries and transport trends.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:
Self-driving cars are coming; there will be fully autonomous cars on the roads in the US in 2018, and adoption will just take off from there.
The technology is developing swiftly to allow fully self-driving vehicles, while the regulatory environment is adapting to the anticipated changes that this new technology will bring.
We conducted a survey asking our exclusive BI Insiders panel about their thoughts on self-driving cars, the future of the automotive industry, and the impact autonomous vehicles will have on their purchasing habits moving forward. The results provide a picture of consumer sentiment at the precipice of the autonomous era.
In full, the report:
Sizes the current and future self-driving car market, forecasting shipments and projecting installed base.
Explains the current state of technology, regulation, and consumer perception.
Analyzes how the development of autonomous cars will impact employment and the economy.
Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:
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