Ford has announced that it is withdrawing its request for administrative approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to launch up to 2,500 self-driving vehicles without obligatory human controls such as steering wheels. Ford cited its intention to close its self-driving venture, Argo AI, in 2022 as the reason for the withdrawal.
Ford said, “As evidenced by the planned shutdown of our ADS partner Argo AI, we believe the road to fully autonomous vehicles, at scale, with a profitable business model, will be a long one,” in the letter dated February 13. Ford added that it is “more prudent” to focus on developing other technologies that do not require an exemption.
According to Ford, their strategic change toward largely autonomous vehicles means that petition clearance is no longer required. Argo AI, a joint venture between the firm and Volkswagen AG, sustained a non-cash pre-tax impairment of $2.7 billion on its investment in the unit, resulting in the layoff of certain personnel.
Ford had submitted the petition in July 2021, seeking permission not to include human controls “such as a steering wheel, brake pedal (and) gear state controls,” arguing that self-driving vehicles “having active driving controls and communications would introduce an unacceptable risk to safety.” The NHTSA has the authority to grant petitions to allow a limited number of vehicles to operate on U.S. roads without required human controls.
However, the NHTSA has now made a decision to take no further action on Ford’s petition following the announcement of its withdrawal. General Motors’ similar petition is still pending.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.