“Ford’s future is not about giving up the car,” Jim Hackett, Ford chief executive officer, exclaimed at the Michigan CEO Summit in Detroit on Thursday. But he promises there will be “no dumb cars in the future.”
The executive was not assuring attendees that Ford has no plans to revive the Mustang II, rather, he was talking about the brand’s continued efforts to press onward into the development of electric, connected, and self-driving automobiles on a global scale. With Wall Street still fixated on tech, it would be surprising to hear any automotive executive say otherwise.
Ford’s share price had suffered a number of falls since its post-recession rebound and, despite gaining some upward momentum in August, remains south of where top brass would like to be. How much of that is to blame on tech talk is debatable, though. Hackett’s predecessor, Mark Fields, was exceptionally interested in rebranding Ford as a mobility company, but it didn’t make shareholders particularly happy.
Hackett’s strategy appears to be more grounded, without abandoning Fields’ long-term vision of advanced technologies. It’s a balancing act. The current CEO knows Ford’s future will remain that of a traditional automaker, but he’s trying to remind the world that the company is also taking tangible steps into developing “smarter” automobiles.
On Wednesday, Ford announced a joint venture to manufacture and sell a new line of battery-powered cars in China. It has also persisted with connectivity, with Hackett going so far as to suggest linking passenger vehicles to the internet would allow the firm to eventually perform double duty as a data company. While the revenue stream for that isn’t crystal clear, it’s assumed Ford could use the information collected from drivers for targeted advertising purposes. General Motors has proposed something similar in the past via a collaborative venture with IBM.
On the autonomous side of business, Ford has hopped into bed with numerous companies to test self-driving acceptance while testing hardware on the home front. Even though some of these attempts had little to do with vehicle development, you can see the company making headway while the CEO presses for an acceleration of traditional products.
“We have to evolve these things to be ever smarter,” Hackett said, mentioning that connected and autonomous vehicles would provide benefits previously unfathomable from an automobile. “For a while, we didn’t see the computer as an integrated aspect,” he continued. “Now, think about it, my vehicle is a rolling computer.”
[Source: Bloomberg] [Image: Ford Motor Company]
Does this herald the rise of increasingly dumb drivers?
You mean we haven’t reached peak dumb driver yet?
“Peak dumb”
Now that is a catchphrase that deserves traction ;)
No dumb cars but will the occupants be “dumb” drivers or “dumb” passengers?
I’m really not interested in a smart car… no thanks Ford.
“Now, think about it, my vehicle is a rolling computer.”
I know, when I think about how quickly a computer becomes unusable, I get a feeling of dread.
https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/joke/crash.htm
Oldddddddddddddd Joke but “If cars were like computers.”
Just more to go wrong. And invariably it does.
“I’m really not interested in a smart car… no thanks Ford.”
Mercedes makes a Smart car not Ford ;)
Is that guy creepy looking or what?
Yes. Yes, he is.
He looks too soft and squishy to be a CEO of Ford. Bring back Hank the Deuce.
These flavor of the month terms “mobility company”are empty statements.
Hackett had better understand that most drivers want ‘dumb cars’ that are well built, fuel efficient, and stylish.
If Ford won’t build them, buyers will go elsewhere.
I have no problem with inter-connected, self-driving cars.
As long as I can go in and turn all of it off.
BTW on Fords (Mustang) or other brands with motor sounds piped in over the audio system, can that be turned off???
Of course I fully expect that in the future, turning off the interconnected communications between cars to be illegal.
TTAC: “Ford’s Hackett: ‘Dumb Cars’ Will Be a Thing of the Past”
So will dumb automotive CEO’s…
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I guess cosmic equilibrium always stays constant.
Cars are getting less dumb, while Presidents, Senators, Congressmen, politicians and CEOs are getting dumber by the minute.
Despite all the slamming on Tesla (some deserved, some not)… The one thing I love about them is the constant updating and improving of the infotainment systems. Being stuck with a shitty old Toyota interface unless I buy a new model and get a slightly improved version of the exact same piece of crap interface sucks.
Computers seem to go ka-blooey in catastrophic and permanent ways, often without a whole lot of advance warning. If I wanted those characteristics in my car, I’d still be driving a 1981 Plymouth Horizon. How about working on making some safe, reliable, fun, affordable, stylish “dumb” cars instead of pretending to be a “mobility company”?