It's the chef's surprise.
While automakers are mostly busy showing off their electric car prowess, Ford (F) seems to have had it all.
The Dearborn group recently unveiled a new update to its FordPass Connect app, which notably allows owners of Ford vehicles to interact with their cars remotely, even start the vehicle while they are away.
The new version of the FordPass Connect contains images suggesting that Ford cars will be able to park themselves soon if the manufacturer realizes its vision.
"Some of these images are labeled “freeDrive” but it is uncertain if this is the name of the feature or just the associated imagery for the F-150 Lightning," wrote electrek.co, which was the first to report about Ford's plans.
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The images show that the owner of a Ford vehicle could, from their iPhone, guide their car in a parking lot and park it without being behind the wheel.
These images show a car, which closely resembles the F-150 Lightning: Each image, let's say rather than each sketch, has a name: 'freeDriveforward', 'freeDriveBehind' with an arrow pointing forward when it's freeDriveforward and backward when it's freeDriveBehind.
All this suggests that the Ford F-150 Lightning could be equipped with this option, which would give it a significant advantage in the electric truck war pitting it against General Motors (GM) and its Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Hummer EV, and Tesla '(TSLA) s futuristic Cybertruck.
But it should be noted that Tesla was among the very first to develop an autonomous parking feature, with "Summon" allowing a Tesla car to leave a parking lot, a point A, on its own and pick up its owner at a point B.
Ford is therefore following in Tesla's footsteps, as is Hyundai (HYMLF) , which recently unveiled a similar option called Smaht Park.
Ford Wants to Offer Automated Valet Parking
In the development of the autonomous car, manufacturers had focused their efforts on driver assistance systems. Ford's is known as BlueCruise. But since Tesla's Summon, there seems to be a shift towards autonomous parking at a time when cars are getting beefier and parking lots getting tighter, especially in agglomerations.
Last September in Germany, Ford demonstrated autonomous parking, based on the principle that finding a parking space can be a painful step. And when space is finally available, it can sometimes be difficult to get the vehicle into it. The solution? Leave this task to the vehicle alone, Ford concluded.
"The demonstration shows that driverless parking is a reality and that the broader benefits go beyond comfort, convenience, and time-saving. Whether at the airport, urban center, or sports arena, parking could soon become far more efficient, with contactless entry, payments, and exit," said Joseph Urhahne, Automated Driving, Research & Advanced Engineering, Ford of Europe. "Having vehicles endlessly circling the car park looking for a suitable space will soon become a thing of the past.”
In a collaboration with the German Automotive Industry Association, Ford has partnered with infrastructure providers and technology companies, including Bosch, to demonstrate that a connected vehicle can communicate with the parking infrastructure to not only find a place but also to park itself.
Automated Valet Parking allows drivers to use an app to trigger an automated parking maneuver, all from outside the vehicle. The technology, currently in the research and demonstration phase, could also allow drivers to send their vehicle to a car wash or charging station, or even have a package delivered directly to parking, Ford said.
