Ford’s Working On Autonomous Cars, And Nobody Cares

2017 Ford Fusion Sport (Credit: Ford)

Ford is going to release fully-autonomous cars by 2021. That’s straight from CEO Mark Fields, and it seems plenty of people aren’t enthusiastic about cars doing all the driving.

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Maybe it’s not fair to say nobody cares about Ford working on autonomous cars, but when Fields made the original announcement to a crowd, you could almost hear crickets chirping. As Nick Bunkley of Automotive News reported, people finally started to clap lightly, probably out of a feeling of obligation more than anything.

These new self-driving Fords won’t have any controls, like the Google car. That’s one good reason to not be excited about the things. There’s no taking control when you’re going through a place that’s actually fun to drive, like a nearly deserted canyon. In other words, the robots get to have all the fun.

Another big reason people aren’t looking forward to fully autonomous Fords is they’ll be shared vehicles you just climb into whenever you need a lift. That’s convenient in some situations, but it’s hard to be enthusiastic about robotic taxis that will probably still smell weird.

Will people change their minds about robot cars after using Ford’s fleet of taxis? Maybe it’s a brilliant marketing strategy, or maybe everyone will decide they’re a great convenience that’s pointless to actually own.