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☆ Ford's BlueCruise is the latest driver-assistance system under investigation after 2 fatal crashes
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Federal regulators are investigating Ford's BlueCruise system following two fatal crashes. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementFederal auto regulators are looking into Ford Motor's driver-assistance system following two fatal crashes that the safety agency linked to the automation technology. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into Ford's BlueCruise system, according to an agency filing made public Monday.

Persons: Ford's, —, BlueCruise Organizations: Service, Ford, Traffic, Administration, Business

☆ Safety regulators probe Ford driver assist features after fatal crash
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Washington DC CNN —The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Monday it has opened an investigation into a recent Ford Mustang Mach-E fatal crash in San Antonio, Texas, where authorities suspect an advanced driver assistance system was in use. Driver assistance features are being hailed by automakers as a way to reduce accidents, but federal safety regulators are concerned that over-reliance on the features by drivers could be causing some accidents. While NHTSA has opened more than three dozen Tesla special crash investigations since 2016 where advanced driver assistance systems such as Autopilot were suspected of being used with 20 crash deaths reported, this is NHTSA’s first special crash probe involving a Ford advanced system. NHTSA typically opens more than 100 special crash investigations annually into emerging technologies and other potential auto safety issues. In addition to the NHTSA probe, on Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board opened a separate investigation into the Feb. 24 crash.

Persons: Jeffrey Allen Johnson, Austin, Ford, “, CNN’s Chris Isidore Organizations: Washington DC CNN, Traffic Safety Administration, Ford, NHTSA, National Transportation Safety, NTSB, San, Honda Locations: San Antonio , Texas, San Antonio

☆ Federal investigators look into crash of Mustang Mach-E equipped with driver assistance tech
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Investigators with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating a fatal crash involving a Ford Mustang Mach-E equipped with advanced driving assistance technology. Ford shows off the new model 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT during the Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place convention center in Chicago, Illinois on February 8, 2024. Federal investigators are looking at dozens of crashes involving so-called advanced driver assistance, or ADAS, systems. ADAS systems handle basic driving tasks such as keeping the vehicle in its lane while maintaining a safe distance behind vehicles ahead, usually in highway driving only. Fourteen of these systems, including two from Ford, were recently rated by the private Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Persons: Jacek Boczarski, Ford, IIHS, Jennifer Homendy Organizations: CNN, National, Traffic Safety Administration, National Transportation Safety, Ford, of Highway Safety, NTSB, Chicago Auto, McCormick, Getty, NHTSA, Wall Street, Federal, General Motors, Volvo, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Locations: “, San Antonio, Chicago , Illinois, Anadolu, Ford, Texas

☆ Tesla Autopilot and similar automated driving systems get ‘poor’ rating from prominent safety group
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which rates cars and SUVs for safety, examined so-called advanced driver assistance systems such as Tesla Autopilot and found them wanting. Of the 14 systems tested by the agency, 11 earned a “poor” rating including Tesla’s Autopilot and so-called Full Self Driving systems. Insurance Institute test drivers also looked at what would happen if the driver became incapacitated with the automated driving system in use. Of the systems tested, only GM’s Super Cruise handled that sort of situation the proper way, according to the Institute. The Insurance Institute will continue to monitor software updates and improvements and will periodically retest the systems, Harkey said.

Persons: ’, David Harkey, Harkey, “, ” Harkey, ” Nissan, Ford, BlueCruise, ” Ford Organizations: CNN, The Insurance Institute for Highway, Ford, Nissan, ”, Insurance, ” Insurance, Traffic, Administration, The Insurance Institute, Institute, The, . Insurance, Cruise, Tesla, GM, Insurance Institute for Highway, Insurance Institute

☆ Ford tops fourth-quarter estimates, guides toward strong 2024
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Michael Wayland | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

DETROIT — Ford Motor beat Wall Street's top- and bottom-line expectations for the fourth quarter while forecasting better-than-expected results for 2024. The company's full-year forecast calls for adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT, of between $10 billion and $12 billion, adjusted free cash flow of $6 billion to $7 billion and capital spending of $8 billion to $9.5 billion. Analysts had expected Ford's adjusted earnings guidance to be roughly $9 billion to $11 billion, according to investor notes from several analysts. The automaker also announced a special dividend of 18 cents per share in addition to a first-quarter regular dividend of 15 cents per share. Adjusted earnings of Ford's traditional business, known as Ford Blue, were down about 48% during the fourth quarter compared to a year earlier to $813 million.

Persons: Jim Farley, Ford, Farley Organizations: Ford Motor Company, Technology, Ford, LSEG, Ford Motor Co, Ford Pro Locations: China, Marshall , Michigan, Romulus , Michigan, DETROIT

☆ Ford reveals its new global pickup truck
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —In America, “Ford truck” usually means the F-series, the best-selling truck here for decades. But in many parts of the world, it probably means the Ford Ranger. In terms of size and capabilities, it fits between the big F-150 and the small, car-like Ford Maverick. The Ranger Raptor, which will have big 33-inch diameter tires, is designed for high-speed off-road driving. The previous generation Ford Ranger was available in other markets for many years before Ford finally decided to sell it in North America.

☆ Tesla's not even in the top 10 of self-driving firms, according to experts who ranked all of the leading companies working on automation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Research firm Guidehouse Insights regularly ranks companies developing automated driving tech. Tesla didn't make this year's top 10, and ranked last of 16 companies assessed. Moreover, of the 16 companies recently ranked by research and consulting firm Guidehouse Insights (which ranks some of the biggest names working on automated-driving technology each year), Tesla came in last. Tesla ranked last in similar lists in 2021 and 2020. To come up with the list, Guidehouse weighs factors such as a company's vision, go-to-market and production strategies, partners, tech, commercial readiness, and more.

☆ Lincoln’s new SUV will be imported from China
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

General Motors’ Buick Envision SUV is produced in China and Volvo’s S90 full-sized sedan is also imported from China. The current generation Nautilus is already produced in China for that market, where the Lincoln brand is popular. The new Lincoln Nautilus will have a large cabin-wide display screen. LincolnThe timing of Ford’s decision to build the Nautilus in China comes at a delicate moment, amid heightened tensions between the US and China. LincolnIn the design and marketing of its vehicles, Lincoln has in recent years emphasized quiet and relaxation rather than performance.

☆ Ford CEO channels Elon Musk, saying the automaker's next electric truck will drive itself while you sleep
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Alexa St. John | Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

In Elon Musk-like fashion, Ford CEO Jim Farley just made big claims about self-driving tech. Farley told Bloomberg in an interview that Ford's next pickup will drive itself. In a new interview with Bloomberg published Friday, Farley upped his company's pressure on Tesla, saying the company's next electric truck set to debut in 2025 is a "breakthrough product." For years, Musk has claimed that self-driving Teslas are coming, but the tech isn't ready yet. The declaration about self-driving tech comes mere months after Ford shut down Argo AI, its autonomous-driving unit that was working on self-driving taxis.

As the image shows, on an earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) basis, Ford Model e had a profit margin of roughly negative 40% in 2022. Ford Motor disclosed on Thursday that its electric vehicle unit, called Ford Model e, lost $2.1 billion in 2022 — and could lose as much as $3 billion in 2023. Here, step by step, is how Lawler said Ford expects Model e to get to a positive 8% EBIT profit margin in under four years:Scale. Ford expects to have the capacity to build EVs at a rate of 2 million per year by the end of 2026. Ford expects to have the capacity to build EVs at a rate of 2 million per year by the end of 2026.

☆ Experts ranked the leading self-driving companies. Tesla didn't even crack the top 10.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Research firm Guidehouse Insights regularly ranks companies developing automated driving tech. Tesla didn't make this year's top 10, and ranked last of 16 companies assessed. That's despite CEO Elon Musk's confidence in his Full Self-Driving tech. Moreover, of the 16 companies recently ranked by research and consulting firm Guidehouse Insights (which ranks some of the biggest names working on automated-driving technology each year), Tesla came in last. Tesla ranked last in similar lists in 2021 and 2020.

☆ Mercedes is the first automaker to deploy actual
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Mercedes’ Drive Pilot system is designed to work on highways in dense traffic at speeds of less than 40 miles per hour. The Mercedes system is considered Level 3 Automation, as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Even Tesla’s Autopilot and so-called “Full Self-Driving” technologies require that the driver pay attention to the road outside the car at all times. Among other technologies, the Mercedes system relies on lidar, which is similar to radar but uses laser light, rather than radio waves, to detect objects in its surroundings. The Mercedes system also uses a rear-facing a camera in the back window, a microphone to listen for emergency vehicles and road wetness sensors inside the wheel well.

☆ Consumer Reports calls Ford’s automated driving tech much better than Tesla’s
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And in a recent ranking by Consumer Reports, which tested ADAS from 12 different carmakers, Tesla’s ranked seventh. GM’s Super Cruise, which ranked second, is the only other system tested by Consumer Reports that works this way. Ford’s driver monitoring technology is one of the major reasons that BlueCruise ranked so highly in Consumer Reports’ testing. Kia and Genesis did not immediately respond to requests from CNN Business for comments on Consumer Reports’ assessments. For the most part, vehicle owner’s manuals were of little use in learning how to use the systems, Consumer Reports said.

☆ Tesla's Autopilot is falling behind as other software catches up
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Consumer Reports ranked the best advanced driver-assistance systems on the market. Mercedes-Benz's tech took third. Ford BlueCruise took the top spot, ahead of General Motors Super Cruise and Mercedes-Benz's system. That's because Elon Musk's automaker hasn't made significant changes to Autopilot's core functionality in years, Consumer Reports said. While other automakers have evolved their ACC and LCA systems, Tesla has simply fallen behind," Jake Fisher, the organization's senior director of auto testing, said in the report.

☆ Testing group says Tesla Autopilot slips in driver assistance ratings
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Tesla's (TSLA.O) advanced driver assistance system Autopilot fell in a ranking of 12 major systems, Consumer Reports said Wednesday. Tesla, which was second in Consumer Reports ratings in 2020 behind Super Cruise, fell to seventh, the group said. "After all this time, Autopilot still doesn’t allow collaborative steering and doesn’t have an effective driver monitoring system," said Consumer Reports Auto Testing director Jake Fisher in a statement. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating 830,000 Tesla vehicles with Autopilot after a series of crashes with parked emergency vehicles. NHTSA is reviewing whether Tesla vehicles adequately ensure drivers are paying attention.

☆ I drove hundreds of miles 'hands-free' in GM, Ford and Tesla cars – here's how it went
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Michael Wayland | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

It aims to make Super Cruise available on 22 cars, trucks and SUVs globally by the end of 2023. When the steering-wheel light bar illuminates in green with GM's Super Cruise, drivers may remove their hands from the steering wheel. When Super Cruise did disengage, it would typically be available again minutes, if not seconds, later. Both Ford and GM systems would have likely hit a temporary concrete construction barrier if I hadn't taken over and disengaged on a large S-curve roadway near Detroit. Super Cruise and BlueCruise both disengaged several times for what seemed like no reason, only to reengage quickly after.

☆ Ford vs. GM: Same Industry, two increasingly different companies
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Michael Wayland | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In this article FGM Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTJim Farley, CEO, Ford, left, and Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors Reuters; General MotorsDETROIT — "Same industry. GM has gained an edge in recent years on the back of better financials and early moves into electric and autonomous vehicles. GM most recently reported third-quarter results that, compared to Ford, knocked it out of the park. The investment cases for America's largest automakers are increasingly diverging as the companies — separated by just $1 billion in market value — have taken different tacks around electric and autonomous vehicles. Ford expects at least 40% of its sales globally to be electric vehicles by the end of this decade.

☆ Ford CEO puts the brakes on the company's plan for fully autonomous cars, saying there's a long way to go before it can develop them at scale
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Stephen Jones | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ford is shifting its priorities away from developing fully autonomous cars. CEO Jim Farley said development of the vehicles at scale was "a long way off." The shift means that Ford is closing down Argo AI, a robo-taxi startup it jointly backed with VW. "Profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are a long way off," CEO Jim Farley said, in a statement published alongside the automaker's third-quarter earnings, Wednesday. A vehicle with Level 4 ADAS capability is considered to be fully autonomous and can navigate most road situations without the need for human assistance.

☆ Ford, VW pull plug on robotaxis in blow to self-driving car industry
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Matt Mcfarland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Ford said Wednesday that it had concluded that the large-scale profitable commercialization of self-driving cars was further out then expected. Some Argo AI employees will join Ford for that work, Farley said. The company was developing robotaxis, self-driving vehicles that can operate in a ridehail service that does not require human drivers. The team effort allowed Ford and VW to share the hefty costs of developing self-driving cars. Companies have found that developing self-driving cars is incredibly expensive.

☆ Confused drivers think they have ‘self-driving’ cars. That’s dangerous, an insurance group warns
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Matt Mcfarland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington, DC CNN Business —Drivers are putting too much trust in their vehicles’ driver-assist features, which may lead to dangerous situations, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). These systems are all driver-assist features that combine adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping systems, primarily to keep a car in a lane and following traffic on the highway. The IIHS called for automakers to design these driver-assist features to promote proper use. Drivers were more likely to conduct non-driving tasks like these when using the driver-assist features. The findings were based on phone and online surveys of roughly 600 regular users of SuperCruise, Autopilot and ProPilot Assist.

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