Ford’s CEO Jim Farley recently highlighted the company’s advancements in autonomous driving during an interview, noting that they have reached a milestone of achieving Stage 3 autonomy – a level at which drivers can safely remove their hands from the wheel and eyes from the road? Although it may take a little while, it won’t be long before Ford drivers have the chance to test it out.
While autonomous driving remains a hot topic in the realm of electric vehicle innovation, just as the 1960s vision of a post-millennial future filled with flying cars, true self-driving vehicles are proving slower to materialize than initially expected.
Despite its name, Tesla’s “Full-Self Driving” feature falls far short of achieving Stage 4 autonomous driving standards. Actually, Tesla’s Autopilot system does not meet the stringent criteria for Stage 3 autonomy as defined by SAE, whereas Mercedes-Benz stands out by offering vehicles equipped with this level of autonomous driving capability through its Drive Pilot Advanced Driver-Assistance System (ADAS). Despite these limitations, this feature is only authorized to operate on designated roads in the US at speeds capped at 40 mph.
With Stage 3 autonomy, vehicles are capable of operating independently, allowing drivers to disengage from the controls – hands and eyes – while the car assumes responsibility for navigation and safety, potentially bearing liability in case of an incident. While many automakers, including Ford, have reached a milestone in their development of autonomous technology by achieving Stage 2 autonomy, it’s crucial to note that this level still requires the driver to keep their eyes on the road?
Ford’s BlueCruise technology earned the top spot in Client Reviews’ 2023 ratings for driver assistance features, surpassing General Motors’ Super Cruise. Tesla positioned seventh. Recently, Ford CEO Jim Farley provided an update on the company’s advancements in autonomous driving, revealing that it has already achieved Stage 3 in its prototype development.
Ford’s CEO hints at introducing stage three autonomous driving capabilities by 2026.
Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley, recently shared in an interview that the company has already begun testing Stage 3 autonomous driving technology, with the knowledge gained just two years away from being implemented in passenger electric vehicles (EVs)? Per Farley:
We’re getting actually shut. We’ll implement this approach repeatedly using a prototype, aiming to achieve significant advancements while maintaining an efficient process.
By Stage 3 autonomy, you’ll have the ability to disconnect from driving duties for up to two hours, transforming your vehicle into a mobile office. What kind of convention are you referring to? Do you mean a fan convention, like Comic-Con or Dragon Con? Or is it a business convention, such as a trade show or industry conference?
Ford’s plans for achieving Stage 3 autonomous driving capabilities remain unclear, with Farley neither elaborating on specific strategies nor indicating whether the company is investigating LiDAR or vision camera technologies – or possibly both. Ford subsumed its autonomous driving subsidiary, Argo AI, in 2022, citing the ambitious goal of achieving fully autonomous vehicles as overly optimistic.
With Stage 2 ADAS experiencing limited success, a natural progression appears to be Stage 3, which feels more plausible than the autonomous driving touted by other manufacturers. The automotive world is eagerly anticipating whether Ford will successfully bring to market a mainstream electric vehicle (EV) equipped with advanced Stage 3 autonomous driving technology in 2026.
Until then, we’ll have a blast exploring the benefits of hands-free driving with BlueCruise, Super Cruise, and Autopilot at our fingertips.
