On January 5, during a dinner with analysts and journalists at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Ford CEO Mark Fields predicted that autonomous, driverless cars will hit the roads in the next five years.
Although Fields admitted that the Blue Oval won’t be among the pioneers of this technology, self-driving cars are coming – and soon. “Fully autonomous vehicles are a possibility”, Fields said according to Bloomberg. “Probably in the next five years, you’ll see somebody introduce autonomous vehicles.”
Fields commented that Ford is busy “democratizing” driver-assisting technology across its range, such as automatic parking, lane and braking assistance systems, offering it at affordable prices even in its economy cars.
Mercedes-Benz is among the auto makers that are currently developing self-driving cars, with CEO Dieter Zetsche unveiling the F 015 concept at the CES. This concept has four seats that can face its other, which means that even the driver won’t be looking at the road ahead. There are, however, six screens that allow both driver and passengers to monitor various information, including the situation of the road.
“We have a master plan to take the big leap required getting from technically feasible to commercially viable”, said Zetsche, adding that “the F 015 demonstrates where this may take us.”
GM CEO Mary Bara said last September that self-driving cars are “pure luxury” and it plans to introduce it into its Cadillac brand in the next two years.
Photo Gallery
