DETROIT (AP) – Ford Motor Co. says it intends to have a fully driverless vehicle – no steering wheel, no pedals – on the road within five years. The car will initially be used for commercial ride-hailing or ride-sharing services, with sales to consumers coming later. Mark Fields, the company’s CEO, calls it “a transformational moment in our industry and it is a transformational moment for our company,” He announced the plan Tuesday at Ford’s Silicon Valley campus in Palo Alto, California. Ford’s approach to the autonomous car breaks from many other companies, like Mercedes-Benz and Tesla Motors, which plan to gradually add self-driving capability to traditional cars. Just last month, BMW AG, Intel Corp. and the automotive camera maker Mobileye announced a plan to put an autonomous vehicle with a steering wheel on the road by 2021. Instead, Ford is taking the same approach as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which supports moving directly to self-driving cars once the technology is perfected.
