Dayshift Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) Is Ford falling behind on driverless car technology? Hyundai is third REALLY? Do you think it’s a fad or should Ford get its head in the game? According to Thomson Reuters the company with the most driverless car patents is Japan’s Toyota Motor Co. They are followed by ; Germany’s Robert Bosch GmbH [ROBG.UL], Japan’s Denso Corp (6902.T), Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) General Motors Co (GM.N) Several tech companies on the list are: Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O), Tesla motors (TSLA.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) Edited February 23, 2016 by Dayshift Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-150 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Patents are not necessarily an accurate measure of a program. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayshift Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 Patents are not necessarily an accurate measure of a program. Agreed, but I don't like the idea of Hyundai beating us at anything. My point is should we be investing in this technology or is it a fad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-150 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 I would also suggest that there are many patents that affect automated cars that were not included in this study. Seriously. How do these guys determine what constitutes a driverless car patent and what doesn't? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lastmanstanding Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Looks like Ford is investing in driveless cars "big time"................ http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/ford-plans-triple-its-investment-self-driving-cars-next-5-years-169801 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caustic Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Ford should be leading the way on anything car related. However the idea of computer controlled cars scares the shit out of me. I don't like it and I see to many potentials for disaster, all auto makers should pull the plug. Let Apple and Google fail if they want. Auto makersshould stay out of this. Just my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-150 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Ford should be leading the way on anything car related. However the idea of computer controlled cars scares the shit out of me. I don't like it and I see to many potentials for disaster, all auto makers should pull the plug. Let Apple and Google fail if they want. Auto makersshould stay out of this. Just my opinion. An opinion shared by a lot of people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayshift Posted February 24, 2016 Author Share Posted February 24, 2016 An opinion shared by a lot of people. I like what they are doing in driver assist technology. Those relate to driverless cars but have current uses as well. I AGREE the prospect of a driverless car on the Dan Ryan expressway or the Texas high 5 is scary. http://googlesightseeing.com/2011/03/dallas%E2%80%99-high-five-interchange/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoldwizard Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 (edited) Ford has been working on driverless car for several years no to replace test drivers on their durability tracks. Ford should be leading the way on anything car related.During the 2007-2009 recession, Ford DEVASTATED its Research and Advanced Engineering staffs and capabilities. In the past, Scientific Research Labs (now combined with Advanced Engineering and renamed Ford Research and Innovation Center)) would work on far future and "pure science" programs. They developed CNG and the hydrogen powered internal combustion engines {i}(with actual running vehicles([/i] >20 years ago. After the recession they were not allowed to do an "pure" research and could only work on projects that were about 5 years from production. Clearly Ford does NOT want to be the technology leader in anything any more. They are content with being a "fast follower" but I'm not sure how good they are at that. They have brought some manufacturing back "in house" (EV battery packs are assembled by Ford due to quality issues and cost savings form integration with other items). Edited February 25, 2016 by theoldwizard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RougeWelder Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 My point is should we be investing in this technology or is it a fad? Ford is investing in this technology. Are they a leader in this technology? Not at this point in time. A fad???? Are you kidding???? I will guess you were fooled with the pet rock and do not want to feel foolish again, hence your inability to recognize plausible future technologies. Autonomous vehicles will be 50% of the traffic in 10 years. 85% in 15 years. http://www.driverless-future.com/?page_id=384 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayshift Posted February 29, 2016 Author Share Posted February 29, 2016 (edited) Ford is investing in this technology. Are they a leader in this technology? Not at this point in time. A fad???? Are you kidding???? I will guess you were fooled with the pet rock and do not want to feel foolish again, hence your inability to recognize plausible future technologies. Autonomous vehicles will be 50% of the traffic in 10 years. 85% in 15 years. http://www.driverless-future.com/?page_id=384 I'm all for R & D and think we need to be at the top of our game but I also think we need to focus on the right technologies. The point of the question is how soon will Ford see return on this investment. They have spent a lot of money on fuel cell technology over the last 20 years with very little return. They have invested in CNG research for the last 50 years and are finally seeing broader use of that technology. Our current electric car program is struggling as well. Was it too much too soon? Ford has often invested in areas that never catch on or are just ahead of their time. Ford invested Billions since 1980 on their WORLD car program which was unsuccessful until Alan Mulally's "One Ford". Just wondering how soon we will see widespread use of this technology. According to sources quoted by the Wall Street Journal wide spread use of autonomous cars may be farther in the future that we think. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/04/22/self-driving-cars-by-2020-not-so-fast-consultants-say "A major auto-industry consultant offered a cautious outlook for self-driving cars Tuesday, suggesting such vehicles likely won’t hit the road until 2025." "Slow-moving, autonomous vehicles may appear sooner than 2025 in more controlled situations such as automated ride-sharing services in the center of cities, he added. BCG dubbed that scenario “Droogle,” a combination of the words drone and Google." "By 2035, sales of fully autonomous vehicles will reach $39 billion, or 10% of the total market for new light vehicle sales." Edited February 29, 2016 by Dayshift Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RougeWelder Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 (edited) That article speaks extremely conservative, and even they say autonomous cars will hit the road in 9 yrs. or by 2025. . There are many analysts that say autonomous vehicles will start appearing on the road in 2020. The article basically agrees with my assessment, with the exception of the volume of autonomous vehicles. My opinion is in between the two. As far as electric vehicles, the public never wanted them. It was the extreme cost of gas that urged some to think they needed them. Government kinda mandated the research of alternative fuels which made auto companies comply with regulations. I think the majority of people want autonomous vehicles and it is a legitimate evolution to automobiles where the electric car is just not a viable option for everyday, normal use. Edited March 1, 2016 by RougeWelder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayshift Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 Bill Ford & Mark Fields so kindly respond to my post. http://www.multimedia.ford.com/webcasts/fcn/02292016_bford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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