Ford CEO Jim Farley Says L3 ADAS Tech Being Developed In-House

Though Ford gave up on the commercial autonomous vehicle technology company Argo AI some time ago, it wound up creating one of its own shortly thereafter using many of the same employees and even physical locations – Latitude AI, which has since been focusing on Level 3 autonomy, rather than Level 4 and 5, which the automaker doesn’t see as a profitable venture in the short term. Ford CEO Jim Farley revealed that The Blue Oval was “getting really close” to achieving road-ready L3 tech last June, and also noted that the automaker is also developing this technology entirely in-house as well.

“But we still think that level three is something that our team can do with the Argo team,” Farley said at the recent Wolfe Research Auto, Auto Tech, and Semiconductor Conference. “They’ve done a great job on BlueCruise. Our BlueCruise has gotten better and better and better. Level three is a kind of organic, obvious – next step for them. Level four though is a completely different animal.”

Farley previously stated that he believes Ford could have Level 3 autonomy ready for customers as early as 2026, making it one of the first mass market automakers to do so. Currently, BlueCruise – and GM’s Supercruise – use eye tracking devices to ensure that drivers are looking ahead, while Tesla’s Autopilot asks drivers to keep their hands on the wheel. However, L3 autonomous would allow drivers to go hands- and eye-free while it’s engaged on the highway, which is a big step forward.

At this same conference, Farley revealed that L3 tech won’t be offered in the company’s under-development low-cost EVs, since adding the components necessary to support it would be too costly. Such an admission makes sense given Ford’s laser focus on making more affordable EVs to better compete with its burgeoning Chinese rivals, coupled with its desire to make those models less complex.