Technology has come to cars to make our lives much easier. We have become accustomed to it and it may have also become accustomed to us, to the point that we can no longer imagine ourselves without many advances. If we talk about cars, from the ergonomics of the models to small functions that have made our lives much easier.
It has been a decade since Ford added a feature called Active Park Assist to many of its models, a technology to make parallel and reverse parking easier. At first, no one had much faith in this feature, but, once we tried it, this innovative technology gained ground.
However, now the blue oval brand is considering removing it from its cars because not many drivers use it… And Ford needs to make changes. Do you want to know more? We’ll tell you below
What is Active Park Assist and why is Ford phasing it out?
As we said, it was in 2009 when Ford introduced Active Park Assist, which was introduced in 2009. Its goal? To reduce the stress associated with parallel parking (something very complicated for many users). The function allows the vehicle to park automatically with minimal intervention from the driver. It was a boom at the time, but over time it has become somewhat outdated because practically no user uses it. According to Galhotra (COO of Ford), data on its use was collected through its connected vehicle systems and it was discovered that very few customers take advantage of this function. He himself commented that The self-parking function allows the customer to park in parallel automatically, but very few people are using it, so we can eliminate it.
When did they decide on this?
During a conference call with Galhotra, the COO revealed that the company has found that this feature was practically obsolete for drivers, so the company could eliminate it in order to save up to $10 million a year (because it is estimated that it costs approximately $60 for each vehicle).
And what about the future of Ford?
The automotive world, as we know, is constantly evolving. Today, there are more advanced systems that allow you to drive without the need for extra controls, and for many users it was even quicker and easier to park manually than to use the assistant.
The decision
It seems clear that Ford’s leaders want to eliminate this feature due to its disuse, and Ford hopes to save some money to deal with other issues, such as some recalls they have had to face last year or make changes towards a more electrified future.
Although they are planning to eliminate it, there are still Ford models that continue to have this functionality such as the F-150 Lightning and the 2025 Explorer, but it is very likely that they will also eliminate it in the future if what they intend is to optimize costs.
So, after all the above, it is not surprising that they do not want to maintain this technology if no one is using it. Those who only use it, make the most of it, and those who do not, Ford is simply trying to change the financial point of view and optimize its own resources for the future.
But this news leaves us with another reading and another possibility for debate: how much technology do we really need in cars?