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Ford Ousted Its CEO And Is Doubling Down On Self-Driving Cars (qz.com)

Posted by msmash on from the going-forward dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: At a press conference today, Ford announced that it had replaced CEO Mark Fields with Jim Hackett, director of the company's autonomous-car research. Previously the CEO of furniture company Steelcase (and a former athletic director at the University of Michigan), Hackett took a seat on Ford's board in 2013. He has been running the company's Smart Mobility subsidiary since March 2016. Smart Mobility is tasked with securing Ford's long-term future. The division houses Ford's self-driving car program, which plans to start ferrying employees around its Dearborn, Michigan campus in 2018. Outgoing CEO Mark Fields previously said that Ford would sell autonomous vehicles to consumers by 2025. [...] Hackett is expected to continue the push into self-driving cars. "We have to re-energize our business, we need to modernize our business," executive chairman Bill Ford said about the company's initiatives into new technologies at the conference.

5 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. New CEO is clueless by mspohr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The new CEO used to work at a furniture company but is good friends with the Ford family so that's how he got his job. He knows nothing about cars or autonomous vehicles in spite of being in charge of the AV program. He's just a well connected good old boy.
    I don't see how this can help. Ford needs somebody who understands cars and autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles. This guy knows nothing.

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    1. Re:New CEO is clueless by GLMDesigns · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The CEO doesn't need to know how to build cars. He needs to have a vision, have excellent managerial skills (which includes delegating authority and being able to recognize talent.) The CEO doesn't need to be an engineer; and he doesn't need to have spent a lifetime in the industry, his skill set is setting (and adjusting) goals, setting (and adjusting) timelines, finding and promoting talent. If you've ever seen someone flail around with timelines and leading a project then you know the value of someone skilled at that position.

      I've had some great managers who do not know the difference between a for loop and a variable. I've had other managers who have been in the industry for 30 years, starting out with punch cards and Fortran who were terrible managers.

      Here's an example George Steinbrenner didn't know anything about baseball but he was a good CEO of the NY Yankees. (As a Met fan it pains me to say it, but it's true.)

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  2. Oh joy! by hackel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just imagine the new wave of proprietary software Ford's going to try to jam down our throats. Unauditable software/firmware in a vehicle is simply unacceptable. Until that changes, we really should not trust these companies with our lives. I hope that someone (looking at you, Tesla) creates an international foundation to handle the development of safe, Free software to run on our vehicles. Even the tech in manually controlled vehicles is dangerous and frightening. Things only will continue to get worse as cars become more and more autonomous unless we put a stop to it now!

  3. Re:take my money by fluffernutter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah I'm not interested in renting a car for a road trip. You haven't seen what my kids can do to a back seat, and I don't want to be beholden to the fees I may incur simply to remove a stain.

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  4. Auto company death spiral by katorga · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Self driving cars are a death spiral for car companies.

    The liability will be too great. Every accident will be the "car's fault" and result in litigation. Eventually a software bug will bankrupt one of the car companies.

    They are primarily useful for "fleet" sales not consumer sales and will kill profit margins.