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One of the big automotive stories out of CES 2026 from the last week was Ford making an announcement about eyes-free driving coming to its models — affordable EVs even — in 2028. There are layers to this, though.
Ford’s L3 Eyes-Off Driving Plans — What Are They Exactly?
First of all, here’s what Ford wrote a few days ago: “We plan to introduce new hardware and software, thanks to our in-house teams, starting in 2027 on our all-new, affordable Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) platform. And we aren’t stopping at hands-free driving; building on this same flexible foundation, L3 eyes-off driving will be road ready in 2028, making the ultimate in-vehicle experience available for the many, not just a privileged few.”
That sounds exciting, but I’m a little concerned it’s not as exciting as one would think on the surface. First of all, that’s 2028 — two years away. With Waymo entering city after city, and Tesla Full Self Driving (Supervised) able to take someone from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, right now, two years feels very far away. And let’s keep in mind how quickly and dramatically Ford dropped huge EV plans, billions of dollars of investment, and BlueOval City with a shift in the winds here in the US. Can we trust Ford will nail its eyes-off driving target in 2028 and not change course? Not really.
Additionally, Ford doesn’t indicate how broadly it will implement L3 eyes-off driving. On every road in America? Unlikely. Its current Blue Cruise system is only available on certain roads, and I assume it’ll be the same with this L3 system. In fact, it might be even more geographically limited. I recently got a Chevy Blazer EV SS to test out GM’s hands-free driving system, Super Cruise, and it was a similar problem. There were almost no roads I routinely drive on where it could be activated. It seemed to work fine, basically like Tesla FSD, where it could be activated, but I got very limited testing out of it because it simply couldn’t be used in the places I’d want to use it.
It feels to me like Ford knows it’s way behind, it’s trying to catch up, but its ambitions are still modest and the company isn’t even confident enough about its target to make it a headline story — instead slipping it in the middle of a broader story.
Also, what are Ford’s plans to improve driver-assist technology in 2026 and 2027? Are there any such plans? How about making Blue Cruise available on many more roads than it is today?
Eyes-Of Driving from Waymo, Tesla, Others — Where Are We Going in 2026?
But where is self-driving headed? Elon Musk has missed another robotaxi target/promise, not removing safety drivers from robotaxis in Austin before the end of 2025, let alone blanketing half the country in robotaxis as he had predicted before. The tech still does more than any other L2 autonomous driving tech in US automakers’ cars and appears to be marching toward 100% eyes-off trips (unless the sensors/cameras and AI approach really aren’t adequate to allow eyes-off driving with Tesla taking over liability).
Furthermore, eyes-off driving is already here in several major cities. Of course, that is Waymo’s eyes-off driving, and it isn’t selling its vehicles to customers. But it appears that the company will have true robotaxi service in dozens of cities in a few years, and probably 10+ in 2028. So, could it license its technology to automakers? Could some automakers get to a similar level themselves (and with NVIDIA’s help, for example)?
I don’t know. I’m on the verge of being optimistic and hopeful about L3 and L4 tech making its way into consumer cars, but I’ve also been burned way too many times on that in the past decade and see several potential hurdles remaining. Do you think we will see notable progress in 2026? Do you think we will get any announcements of Waymo working with automakers to implement its tech into their cars? Will Tesla finally reach its target of turning consumer cars into robotaxis overnight with an OTA update anytime soon?
Eyes-Off Driving on Affordable Ford EVs?
Circling back to Ford’s latest announcement, though, the more positive thing there is that Ford says it’s intent on providing this capability to affordable models, not just its premium vehicles. Here’s more:
“For too long, the auto industry has been in a race to apply technology to products: more screens, sensors, megapixels, and compute that drive up cost. Too often, the most meaningful innovations end up reserved for the elite, gated behind $70,000 – $100,000 luxury price tags.
“At Ford, our North Star for technology implementation starts with the utility and joy it delivers to as many people as possible. That includes the families who rely on us daily and the millions of workers who use our trucks and vans as their most important tool.
“This is the democratization of technology, just as Henry Ford democratized the automobile over a century ago. If a feature doesn’t solve a real problem or make you smile, customers shouldn’t have to pay for it. Truly impactful technology must be attainable. If it doesn’t reach the many, it isn’t a revolution — it’s a luxury. […]
“Autonomy shouldn’t be a premium feature. By designing our own software and hardware in-house, we’ve found a way to make this technology more affordable. This means we can put advanced hands-free driving into the vehicles people actually buy, not just vehicles with unattainable price points. With 1.2 million BlueCruise-equipped vehicles already on the road, we are able to learn from real-world miles to continuously improve the experience for our customers.
“Just as important, we’re focused on efficiency — delivering more capability, not just sheer processing power. Because we own the technology behind our driver assistance systems, we can deliver significantly more capability at a 30% lower cost than if we bought it from outside suppliers, which makes advanced driver assistance scalable.”
So, the good news does seem to be that Ford is focused on bringing L3 eyes-off driving to the mass market, to affordable electric vehicles as well as expensive ones. That’s the plan, at least. Again, though, we’ll have to wait to see how well Ford implements its plans or if it changes them in a couple of years.
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