Ford’s plan for driverless cars goes beyond technology

Enlarge / Sherif Marakby, CEO of Ford’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, poses with DC Mayor Muriel Bowser. (credit: Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Waymo says it will launch a fully driverless taxi service later this year. GM’s Cruise is aiming to do the same thing in 2019. Ford, by contrast, doesn’t plan to launch a commercial service until 2021.

You could view this as a sign that Ford is far behind in the race to driverless cars. But in a Monday meeting with Ars Technica, Ford executives argued that they are laying the foundations to make Ford a major player in the autonomous vehicle market over the coming decade.

Ford was in Washington, DC—where both Ars car editor Jonathan Gitlin and I live—to announce that the nation’s capital has been selected as Ford’s second 2021 driverless cars launch city, alongside Miami. Mayor Muriel Bowser welcomed Ford to DC in a Monday press conference along the Potomac River waterfront.