Ford says full self-driving ‘is a long way off’ as Argo AI shuts down

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. posted a third-quarter loss of $827 million that it largely blames on newly revealed plans to shut down Argo AI, a self-driving vehicle development company the automaker had invested in heavily.

CEO Jim Farley said the company now believes mass deployment of fully self-driving vehicles is “a long way off,” while CFO John Lawler added it could be “five-plus years away.” Ford originally had planned to begin commercializing Level 4 vehicles in 2021 before pushing back that timeline due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“But things have changed, and there’s a huge opportunity right now for Ford to give time — the most valuable commodity in modern life — back to millions of customers while they’re in their vehicles,” Farley said in a statement. “We’re optimistic about a future for L4 ADAS, but profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are a long way off and we won’t necessarily have to create that technology ourselves.”

When Ford does eventually develop Level 4 technology, Lawler said it would likely be focused on commercial services like package delivery the company had been testing in various cities with Argo.

Farley said Ford plans to hire “a couple hundred” employees from Argo AI to expand and accelerate development of technology categorized as Level 2+ and Level 3 because they rely on more driver interaction. Volkswagen Group, another major Argo backer, is also expected to offer jobs to the self-driving startup’s employees.

Doug Field, Ford’s chief advanced product development and technology officer, said developing fully autonomous vehicles is the most difficult challenge now facing the industry.

“It’s harder than putting a man on the moon,” he said.

— Michael Martinez