Yahoo Finance Ford CEO: Autonomous cars could influence society as much as Henry Ford's assembly line
The self-driving car could influence society as Henry Ford’s invention of the moving assembly line in 1913, according to Ford Motor Company (F) President and CEO Mark Fields.
“Our view is the next decade is really going to be defined by the automation of the vehicle. And our view is automated vehicles—autonomous vehicles—could have as just as much an impact on society as Henry Ford’s assembly line,” Fields said at the Bloomberg Markets Most Influential Summit in New York on Wednesday.
He continued: “When you think about autonomous vehicles, it’s not just a product. When you think of the societal, the safety, the environmental, the economic benefits, it’s huge.”
For example, the technology could let more people drive again.
“Think about elderly folks who the kids had to take their keys away, their parents, right? That’s their freedom. All the sudden you give them their freedom back,” Fields said. “Or disabled folks, you now give them an opportunity to go where they want to go. It has huge societal benefits.”
Another key benefit is safety.
“Here in the US, at any given year, I think there were over 30,000 traffic deaths and 90% of them was due to human error,” he said. “Imagine if you can just put a small dent in that.”
That said, he thinks the traditional vehicle will “still matter.”
Shares of Ford have slumped 30% since Fields took the helm as CEO of the 113-year-old automaker. The stock has dropped 16% in 2016 alone.
One of the concerns of investors is that the auto industry might be plateauing, albeit at a high level. Fields noted that investors might be “under-appreciating” the work that they’re doing on autonomous vehicles, which opens up a whole new area of growth.
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Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance.
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