Ford Motor Co announced joining other global automakers in stepping up efforts to roll out self-driving cars, company executives said on Tuesday.
Unlike General Motors Co, Volkswagen AG's Audi, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and Tesla Motors Inc, which have all announced plans to begin offering semi-automated driving systems over the next 18 months.
The U.S. automaker will expand advanced safety technology, including automatic braking, across its global vehicle lineup over the next five years, they said. Such systems, the precursors of fully autonomous vehicles, enable hands-free operation of cars under certain conditions by automating such basic functions as steering, braking and throttle.
"During the next five years, we will move to migrate driver-assist technologies across our product lineup (and) continue to increase automated driving capability," Raj Nair, Ford's global product development chief, said Tuesday in Palo Alto, California.
Nair said the move is "another step closer to production" of fully autonomous vehicles. He declined to say when such vehicles would reach the market, but other companies have targeted 2020.
Source:Reuters
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