Yahoo Autos New Fords Will No Longer Parallel Park Themselves
Ford will discontinue its Active Park Assist feature, which allows vehicles to parallel park themselves.
The cost-costing move is expected to save the company $2 billion by eliminating myriad associated operations, according to Bloomberg.
Active Park Assist has been available for over a decade, but Ford COO Kumar Galhotra reportedly said it hasn't been very popular.
Ford is ditching the feature that allows some of its models to park themselves. Active Park Assist has been around for over a decade, but apparently it hasn't been as popular as its marketing might suggest.
Bloomberg reported that earlier this week Ford COO Kumar Galhotra told analysts on a conference call that the company's connected vehicle data showed that "Very, very few people are using it...". Of course, the decision to discontinue the feature is mainly about cutting costs, and Galhotra said this move will save Ford about $60 per vehicle and around $10 million per year.
The bigger figure is $2 billion. That's how much the company expects to save by nixing features such as automated self-parking, as there are myriad operating costs behind the scenes for things such as freight, manufacturing, and materials. It's possible removing this type of tech will make automakers such as Ford less reliant on semiconductor chips, which caused all sorts of equipment to be removed or put on hiatus during the recent shortage, including Active Park Assist.
Ford's automated parking feature is currently offered on a range of models, from the Escape compact SUV to the electric Mustang Mach-E to the full-size F-150 pickup. While the company says Active Park Assist wasn't very popular, we wonder if the people who did use it will have trouble parallel parking any future Ford model they might buy. Coming soon: More open spaces for street parking.
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