Detroit, Michigan — Ford has withdrawn its petition to develop Level 4 autonomous driving systems with it National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the legacy automaker announced on March 30.
The automaker told the NHTSA said the decision to cancel the request coincides with the closure of its Argo AI self-driving venture last summer.
“As evidenced by the planned shutdown of our autonomous driving system (ADS) partner Argo AI, we believe the road to fully autonomous vehicles, at scale, with a profitable business model, will be a long one,” Ford wrote in a Feb. 13 letter to the NHTSA.
The OEM added that it will be more focused on other technologies that “do not require an exemption.”
Ford had sought U.S. regulatory approval to develop and deploy up to 2,500 self-driving vehicles annually.
