Ford CEO Jim Farley recently stated that the development progress of the company's assisted driving system is accelerating, and it is expected that within two years, Ford will support the assistance function of car owners who do not look at the road and have their hands off the steering wheel while driving.
Fali released this news in a media interview on May 31st local time. He said that the realization of this technology is very close, and it is expected that this function will be provided as soon as 2026, which may make Ford the first brand to launch the so-called L3 autonomous vehicle in the mass market.
Ford closed its autonomous driving subsidiary Argo AI in 2022, which collaborates with Volkswagen and several other companies. At that time, Ford explained that the closure of Argo AI was due to the company's belief that the commercialization of autonomous driving was still far away. But Latitude AI, which was later established, took over most of Argo AI's employees and business.
The newly established company is committed to developing autonomous driving technologies that are more cost-effective and practical, and thanks to the establishment of important technologies and nodes such as deep learning models and clear route shifting to no map in the past two years, the progress of L3 has begun to accelerate.
Farley mentioned that Ford will generate sustained revenue by offering subscription services such as BlueCruise, a product name for Ford's assisted driving feature. These high profit software services will help alleviate the cyclical fluctuations in the automotive business. In addition, although the BlueCruise system is currently under investigation by US security regulators, it is more popular than expected, which has strengthened Ford's determination to accelerate development.
On a global scale, autonomous driving technology is gradually shifting from relying on high-precision maps to relying more on machine learning algorithms and big data processing. Both domestic and foreign automobile companies are actively researching and developing, striving to break the limitations of high-precision maps. At this year's Beijing Auto Show, multiple Chinese suppliers/car companies, including Huawei, Xiaomi, SAIC, and Geely, announced the public testing plan for urban NOA. This technology is also regarded as one of the initial foundations towards L3 level assisted driving.
Huawei's Yu Chengdong recently publicly stated that the road environment in China makes it more difficult to advance intelligent driving technology compared to other markets. If the testing location is in Europe, where the driving environment is simpler, then Huawei's intelligent driving technology has reached the L3 level standard.
It should also be noted that the marketing approach for assisted driving technology may sound ambitious, but in reality, there are very few mass-produced and marketed vehicles that truly meet the L3 level (transitioning from L2 driver driven to L3 system driven, with drivers only serving as backups).
Taking the Mercedes Benz EQS, which has passed the L3 standard, as an example, while assuming certain accident responsibilities, the operating speed of the L3 autonomous driving function is strictly limited to 40 miles per hour (approximately 64 kilometers), and its application range is extremely limited.
According to the industry's agreed L1 to L5 level autonomous driving standards, most of the advanced and advanced assisted driving technologies currently being promoted are still at the L2 level, meaning that the driving assistance system still requires driver monitoring and intervention, and car companies do not assume any responsibility for accidents caused by distracted driving.
Although the standards and regulations for autonomous driving technology are constantly improving, the number of vehicles that meet L3 level certification is still very limited in practical applications. According to current regulations, L3 level vehicles are allowed to have the system fully take over driving under specific conditions, in which case the car manufacturer needs to bear certain accident responsibilities.
Many high-profile car companies offer assistive driving products that may allow drivers to be distracted to some extent in actual use, but as these products have not yet obtained L3 certification, these companies are not responsible in the event of accidents.
This situation is particularly evident in some public occasions, where some company executives even exhibit obvious violations of traffic regulations while showcasing their assisted driving skills, but often fail to receive due accountability.
In terms of overseas markets, companies such as General Motors, Ford, BMW, and Nissan have all launched assistance systems in North America that can achieve "out of hand" driving under limited conditions. Taking General Motors as an example, the company's Super Cruise system is designed to be used on highways and main roads covering 400000 miles of high-precision maps in North America, while also achieving a considerable history of application safety. However, Jeff Miller, the company's product manager, admitted in an interview that they do not believe the Super Cruise system is absolutely safe.
Waymo, an autonomous driving startup, found in its early tests in 2013 that even well-trained testers became distracted by excessive trust in the system, and some even fell asleep during testing. This situation prompted Waymo's then CEO to quickly halt some of the tests and point out that people are prone to relying too much on seemingly perfect systems and unconsciously relaxing their vigilance.
Just a month before Farley stated in an interview that he would further accelerate his autonomous driving assistance technology, Ford was investigated by NHTSA for two serious car accidents in 2024 involving the Mustang Mach-e, which was equipped with the BlueCruise system and was in operation. One of the accidents resulted in the death of the opposing driver.