Ford to offer eyes-off driving tech with $30,000 EV in 2028

Ford Motor plans to introduce eyes-off driving technology on an upcoming $30,000 all-electric vehicle in 2028, the Detroit automaker announced Wednesday.

The target brings Ford into a race against competitors such as Tesla, General Motors and Rivian Automotive to develop and broadly launch such systems, which Wall Street views as a potential growth market to fully autonomous vehicles.

Ford’s plan is similar to those of other automakers, but the company notably plans to offer the new system on a mainstream EV first, rather than on a pricier model — defying typical technology rollouts in the automotive industry.

“It’s part of what has evolved to be a broader technology strategy of putting our best and newest technology where the volume is and where the accessibility is,” Doug Field, Ford’s chief EV, digital and design officer, told CNBC during an interview.

The first vehicle to feature the new system is expected to be built on the company’s upcoming “Universal EV platform,” which Ford has said is capable of supporting a variety of vehicles. The first is a roughly $30,000 midsize pickup truck set to hit the market in 2027.

Field, who joined Ford after stints with Apple and Tesla, said the first vehicle with the eyes-off system will come at that starting price, but did not disclose if it would be the pickup truck.

Ford has said the next-generation EV platform reduces parts by 20% versus a typical vehicle, with 25% fewer fasteners, 40% fewer workstations in the plant and 15% faster assembly time.

Field announced the eyes-off system at the CES technology show in Las Vegas alongside other plans, including a new vehicle software architecture as well as a Ford-engineered artificial intelligence assistant.

GM in October announced similar plans, including an AI assistant and an eyes-off system expected to launch in 2028 on its electric Cadillac Escalade IQ. That vehicle currently starts at more than $127,000.

Ford, led by CEO Jim Farley, is under pressure to deliver on the new vehicle platform, known as UEV, and its supporting technologies, which largely fall under Field.

The company has wasted billions of dollars amid shifting EV strategies as well as quality and production issues in recent years.

Ford has significantly cut back its spending on EVs and has moved focus from large all-electric pickup trucks and SUVs to smaller, more affordable models through a special project, or “skunkworks,” team that created the UEV platform. Ford announced plans to invest about $5 billion in U.S. plants to produce the vehicles and the batteries to power them.

Field referred to the skunkworks team as a “bet” over the last couple of years that has “started to build a tremendous amount of confidence” over the “last few months.”

He said Ford now has all of the critical software and supporting hardware it needs in-house for a new generation of technologically advanced vehicles to differentiate the automaker.

“One of the things we’re seeing is just how much faster our development process works on this product and this architecture compared to what we’ve done in the past,” Field said. “So, we have a lot of confidence in our ability to get this out.”

Ford last month said it expects to record about $19.5 billion in special items through 2027 related to such restructuring efforts and its pullback in EV investments.

Field said Ford’s planned eyes-off system, which the auto industry refers to as “Level 3 driving automation,” will utilize an array of sensors and in-house software development to lower costs compared to competitors.

Field declined to comment on the roadmap for expanding the new system to other vehicles, but said the goal is to commoditize the technology.

“The actual rollout schedule will be based on a lot of work we have to do on which customers need it in their applications, when, and which products are most ready for it now,” Field said. “It’ll take time to roll it out everywhere, but we’ll prioritize that based on where we will have the biggest impact on customers.”

SAE International, formerly known as the Society of Automotive Engineers, has characterized automated driving for vehicles from Level 0 to Level 5. The highest, Level 5, is a fully autonomous vehicle, with each stage from Level 0 adding more technologies and enabling human drivers to be more “out of the loop.”

Ford currently offers a Level 2 advanced driver assistance system, or ADAS, known as BlueCruise. While active, a vehicle can drive itself under certain circumstances without human intervention on divided highways, but drivers still need to pay attention to the roads and system in case of problems. 

Ford’s new AI assistant is expected to launch in early 2026 through its phone apps for Ford and Lincoln, followed by a native in-vehicle experience starting in 2027, the company said Wednesday.

Several other automakers also have announced plans for AI digital assistants, but Field said he believes Ford’s will offer unique capabilities specific to each car or truck by utilizing each vehicle’s unique identification number.

Ford said the AI assistant will be able to review a picture of a trailer to confirm whether a vehicle can properly tow it, for example, or assess how many bags of mulch the interior of a car or truck can hold.

“The AI companion is something we think we can make special for Ford, representative of what we’re trying to do on the customer experience side,” Field said.

Assisting in that better customer experience is expected to be an updated in-house software architecture that Ford’s calling an “integrated digital platform” that will debut with the UEV platform.

The company said the updated system will result in “a more unified ‘brain inside’ the vehicle — a single, powerful module that unifies infotainment, ADAS, audio, and networking.”

“For customers, that means a vehicle that feels more consistent, more reliable, and more capable year after year,” Field said in a blog post accompanying the CES announcements.