Self-Driving Cars Could Represent 20% Of All Sales By 2030, Says Ford

By the year 2030, self-driving cars could account for as much as 20 percent of all new-vehicle sales in the US, says Ford, including both fleet and private sales.

According to The Detroit News, of that 20-percent share in new-car sales, Ford believes that 80 percent would be attributable to fleet sales, and 20 percent would go to individual buyers. The automaker shared this news at their annual “Investor Day” last week, at which Ford shared its future business plans with a group of investors and Wall Street analysts – including investments in self-driving car technology.

Because of the costs associated with its self-driving car program, as well as investments in the emerging “mobility” side of its business, Ford expects profits to slide some in 2017. The automaker’s pre-tax profits are already expected to slide to $10.2 billion this year, down from $10.8 billion last year, with only $1 billion anticipated in the third quarter.

But the company is much more optimistic about 2018 and beyond, as offering mobility services such as car-hailing, ride-sharing, and mass transit could allow Ford to have some share in roughly $3.7 trillion of the transportation industry’s $5.4 trillion in annual revenue.