Faced with the coronavirus crisis, Ford has decided to postpone the arrival of its autonomous taxis until 2022. Initially, the American firm had planned the commercial launch of its driverless taxis in 2021 in the United States.
In any case, the car manufacturer is hoping that the pandemic will galvanize consumer interest in autonomous vehicles.
Ford took the opportunity of the presentation of its financial results for the first quarter of 2020 to talk about the arrival of its self-propelled taxis, reported our colleagues from TechCrunch.
“Given the challenges of the current business environment, as well as the need to assess the long-term impact of VIDOC-19 on customer behavior, Ford has decided to delay the launch of its autonomous driving services until 2022” Ford said in a release.
Ford Believes That The Health Crisis Will Stimulate The Adoption of Autonomous taxis
The Dearborn firm estimates it will need several more months to study the impact of Covid-19 on consumer expectations.
“Understanding customer behavior is an essential element in building a new mobility service that is based on trust and makes life easier for users.
Taking the time to identify changes in customer behaviour gives Ford the opportunity to evaluate and potentially change the go-to-market strategy to meet new consumer demands,” continued Ford.
Above all, the carmaker wants to enable the users of its future service to feel safe in a context of social distancing.
Ford also believes that the coronavirus crisis will stimulate the adoption of services based on autonomous driving.
“We believe that this pandemic could affect the lives and work of our customers for many years to come,” says Jim Hackett, Ford’s CEO.
At a time when contact with other people is a vector of contamination, self-drive cars and taxis obviously have a major role to play.
“Lack of contact will be an integral part of our lives in the future, and this should spark interest and encourage the adoption of independent driving,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s Chief Operating Officer since March.
What do you think of the American group’s analysis? We are waiting for your opinion in the comments.
