Ford to offer vehicles for fully autonomous ride-hail fleet by 2021
Ford has announced its intention to have a fully autonomous vehicle - without a steering wheel or pedals - available for sale to ride-hailing services by 2021. To achieve this, the company is expected to triple its investment in autonomous systems, double the number of people stationed at its Silicon Valley laboratory to 260, and team up with China’s Baidu to develop an advanced radar system, each investing $75m. No details have been disclosed over whether Ford plans to team up with the likes of Uber or Lyft, however, CEO Mark Fields said "all options are open and on the table," Ford may also decide to roll out a ride-hailing service on its own.

More than a century after the Model T hit the roadways, Ford Motor Co. is looking toward a future of self-driving taxis.

On Tuesday, CEO Mark Fields committed the automaker to mass-producing a fully autonomous vehicle in 2021, for use by ride-hailing services.

The vehicle does not yet have a name, nor has Ford decided whether it will be powered by electricity or gasoline. As planned, however, it will have no steering wheel, no accelerator and no brake pedal, navigating entirely on its own.

“It’s now clear that the next decade is going to be defined by the automation of the automobile,” Fields said, speaking at Ford’s lab in Palo Alto. “In fact, we see autonomous vehicles as having as significant an impact on society as Ford’s moving assembly line did over a hundred years ago.”

The 130-person lab, which opened last year, will soon double in size as part of Ford’s accelerated push on self-driving cars, with the company adding two buildings to accommodate the expanding staff.

The automaker also announced investments and partnerships with four startups whose technology will help autonomous cars follow 3-D maps, observe the roadside environment and make decisions.

Fields would not reveal how much the company plans to spend bringing its self-driving vehicles to market. He made clear, however, that he sees autonomous cars as inevitable and is determined to position Ford for that future.

“This is a transformative moment in our industry,” Fields said. “This is a transformative moment for our company.”

In addition to making autonomous vehicles for ride-hailing or car-sharing services, Ford may decide to create such a service on its own, Fields said. Or the company could team up with an existing service.

Uber is already testing its own self-driving cars, while Lyft and General Motors have formed an alliance to develop them. Delphi Automotive, one of the world’s largest auto parts suppliers, plans to offer an autonomous taxi service in Singapore next year. Tesla Motors, which is also moving toward self-driving technology, also has designs on creating a ride-sharing fleet.

Car companies — both industry stalwarts like Ford and upstarts like Tesla — are racing each other to perfect versions of self-driving technology, seeing the potential to cut fatal traffic accidents caused by human error. Much of the work is taking place in Silicon Valley, where most major U.S. and foreign automakers have opened labs. Fittingly enough, Ford’s facility lies roughly 1 mile from Tesla’s headquarters.

“Autonomous vehicle technology represents a sea change for the industry, an evolution that is both exciting and a bit frightening for established automakers,” said Karl Brauer, senior analyst for the Kelley Blue Book auto information service. “Each manufacturer is jockeying for position in a race that remains highly speculative regarding the timing, implantation and regulation of this technology.”

Although Silicon Valley figures prominently in Ford’s plans, the company’s chief technology officer, Raj Nair, said Tuesday that the push to create autonomous cars would involve engineers and experts from throughout Ford — software coders and chassis designers alike.

“There’s been this perception that automakers are just the hardware guys, and we plug in other people’s software,” he said. “That’s not the way it works.”

Two of the startups in which Ford has invested are in the Bay Area — Civil Maps, an Albany company that has developed an efficient way to build 3-D maps, and Velodyne, a Morgan Hill company that makes the lidar system that Ford’s current experimental autonomous cars use to “see” their environment.

In addition, Ford announced Tuesday that it has acquired Saips, a machine-learning company in Israel. Ford has also signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Nirenberg Neuroscience, a machine vision company founded by Cornell University neuroscientist Sheila Nirenberg.

While some skeptics view the idea of self-driving cars with dread, the automakers say autonomous vehicles could bring mobility to disabled people, or to senior citizens who have been forced to give up driving on their own.

“One of the most emotional times in life is when you have to take the keys away from a grandfather or a mom or a dad,” Fields said. “That’s taking away their freedom. If we can give them back that freedom, they’re no more a prisoner to their house. ... It is incredible the societal benefits that could come along with this.”

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF