The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona has expanded beyond strictly mobile technology, and has become something of a CES, Part II.
In that vein, Ford CEO Mark Fields announced at the conference that Ford will be tripling its investment in autonomous driving engineering staff, over the next five years.
“When the first Ford autonomous vehicle comes out, it will be an autonomous vehicle designed to serve millions of customers — not just for those who buy luxury vehicles,” Fields stated.
That’s pretty clearly aimed at Tesla.
To date, Ford has been the mainline auto manufacturer most dedicated to self-driving cars, with its MCity project and its University of Michigan partnerships.
With Toyota and Volvo and GM all stepping up their efforts, though, Ford is finally getting some competition. And thankfully they’re embracing the challenge.
David Silver 