Ford could come up with an Uber competitor before its own self driving cars hit the streets, Business Insider reported.
The automaker’s Executive VP and President of North America Raj Nair informed Business Insider that he “would never rule it out,” on being asked about the launch of an on demand mobility service with a human driver, the newswire reported.
Ford has alluded to entering this business before as well. It had earlier noted that it aims to launch self driving cars in a commercial setup by 2021 and one of the use cases could encompass an on demand, ride hailing service, Business Insider.
There is still a chance that Ford will wait for its autonomous vehicles before venturing into this space, Business Insider noted. Nair added that the economics make more sense once the car can drive itself, the newswire noted.
He also noted that the firm is amenable to partnerships and could tie up with ride sharing companies of the likes of Uber and Lyft to manage their fleet of self driving cars, instead of working on its own network, Business Insider noted.