But Ford, the number three automaker in the U.S., which plans to work with partners to incorporate self-driving technology into its future vehicles, does not seem likely to license Tesla’s tech anytime soon, based on Farley’s comments on Friday.
Farley was being interviewed by Walter Isaacson, who published a biography on Elon Musk in 2023. When their conversation turned to autonomy, Isaacson asked Farley to compare both Waymo and Tesla’s systems, and he asked which approach made more sense.
“The issue with Waymo’s cars is it costs way more money,” Musk said during Tesla’s quarterly earnings call in April. “The car is very expensive, made in low volume. Teslas probably cost 25% or 20% of what a Waymo costs and made in very high volume.”
“We decided, as a company, that a cooler problem than full autonomy in an urban setting was high speed, eyes off. Push a button and read a book in your car,” Farley said.
