New Ford CEO Hints at Changes in Auto Maker's Self-Driving Plans
August 17 2017 - 5:39PM
Dow Jones News
By Tim Higgins and Christina Rogers
SAN FRANCISCO -- Fresh into his role as Ford Motor Co.'s chief
executive, Jim Hackett said the auto maker is rethinking how
customers are going to want to use self-driving vehicle
technology.
The Dearborn, Mich., auto maker is among car makers and tech
companies racing to develop technology that would create autonomous
cars. Under previous CEO Mark Fields, Ford aimed to have a fully
self-driving vehicle commercially available in 2021 for
ride-hailing services.
Mr. Hackett, in an interview on Thursday during a Ford-sponsored
symposium on the future of cities, reiterated the goal of having
the technology ready in 2021 but said the company is reviewing how
it might be deployed. His comments suggest Ford may be taking a
different direction with autonomous technology than it did under
Mr. Fields.
"The biggest leap is the nature of the human interpretation of
using it, " said Mr. Hackett, who was wearing jeans and an Apple
Watch. "If you think we're going to take the [autonomous vehicle]
and just replace the station wagon, I don't believe that's what's
going to happen. The AV will replace and do something that the
station wagon can't do -- not just drive itself -- but other
things."
He noted how the uses of computing technology have evolved in
surprising ways, such as the smartphone being used to watch
HBO.
"It's about aligning the technology to what the market wants it
to do -- is it a new station wagon or is it an Uber vehicle?" he
added. "We have work to do."
Mr. Hackett, 62, was named chief executive in May, after Ford's
board ousted former boss Mark Fields for lacking a clear strategy
to challenge new Silicon Valley rivals, such as Alphabet Inc. and
Uber Technologies Inc., looking to redefine the car business.
Since becoming CEO, Mr. Hackett has been to Silicon Valley five
times, he said.
A former office-furniture executive who until recently ran the
auto maker's smart-mobility unit, Mr. Hackett is working to make
Ford more nimble and to accelerate decision making. The company is
undergoing a 100-day review of all its operations, an effort that
Mr. Hackett hopes will help it better target new revenue and
cost-savings opportunities.
As part of that review, Mr. Hackett said he has realized the
importance of the infrastructure around self-driving vehicles, such
as an operating system that allows everything to communicate to
coordinate. "There's a marriage of the evolution of the technology
of the vehicle and the evolution of the system it works in," he
said. "In my 100-day review, I'm more convinced that the harmony of
that is key to Ford."
Under Mr. Fields, Ford had aimed to roll out a fully autonomous
car -- with no steering wheel or pedals -- by 2021, taking a
different approach than other auto makers looking to phase in
automated features more gradually within the next few years. Mr.
Hackett also has noted that Ford is behind in other connected-car
services, such as providing customers with over-the-air
updates.
Mr. Hackett also inherited a relationship between Ford and the
Trump administration that has been tense at times over issues
including whether Ford builds its cars in the U.S. or overseas. Mr.
Fields stepped back from the president's manufacturing council when
he was removed as CEO at Ford in May. Ford didn't replace him with
another representative on the council.
That council disbanded on Wednesday amid a broad backlash
against President Donald Trump's response to deadly
white-nationalist protests last weekend. On Thursday, Mr. Hackett
and Ford Chairman Bill Ford issued a statement condemning the
weekend's "displays of hatred and blatant racism."
The statement, which didn't criticize Mr. Trump, also said: "You
can be assured that while Ford left the President's Manufacturing
Council earlier this year, we also remain committed to working in
support of policies that promote American manufacturing, economic
prosperity, and safe and sustainable transportation."
Write to Tim Higgins at Tim.Higgins@WSJ.com and Christina Rogers
at christina.rogers@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 17, 2017 17:24 ET (21:24 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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