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Ford Bets Big on Level 3 Autonomy with 2028 Debut

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Ford is taking a measured but ambitious step into advanced driver-assistance technology. The automaker has confirmed it will introduce a hands-off, eyes-off Level 3 driver-assistance system in 2028, built atop its affordable Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) platform, which itself is set to launch in 2027.

This move marks a notable pivot from Ford’s earlier autonomous ambitions. Back in 2016, the Blue Oval boldly predicted it would have Level 4 autonomous vehicles on the road by 2021, bypassing Level 3 entirely. Fast-forward to today, and the company, like many of its peers, acknowledges the technical hurdles of advanced autonomy have been more challenging than expected.

Ford’s forthcoming Level 3 system will lean on LiDAR to perceive the environment, a key ingredient for hands-off driving. While the company says the technology will debut on a vehicle built on the new UEV platform—a flexible architecture starting with a midsize electric pickup priced around $30,000—it has not confirmed if that pickup will wear the honor of hosting the first Level 3 system.

Doug Field, Ford’s EV chief, told Reuters that the system won’t come standard on the entry-level $30,000 model. Instead, customers can opt in, though the company has yet to finalize whether it will be sold as a subscription or a one-time purchase. “Autonomy shouldn’t be a premium feature,” Ford emphasizes, noting that by developing the hardware and software in-house, it can offer more capability at roughly 30% lower cost than relying on outside suppliers. The move is aimed at making Level 3 driving more scalable and attainable.

Key to Ford’s strategy is its new unified vehicle brain—a compute powerhouse that consolidates infotainment, ADAS, audio, and networking systems. This brain not only accelerates complex computations and gives engineers greater control over semiconductors, but it’s nearly half the size of previous computers and significantly cheaper to produce.

Ford is also expanding its in-car technology beyond autonomy. At CES, the company unveiled a dedicated AI assistant, tailored specifically for Ford and Lincoln vehicles. Unlike general-purpose AI tools, this assistant understands the nuances of Ford ownership: snap a photo of firewood, and it can calculate how many logs will fit in your F-150 bed. Next year, the AI will move from app-based interactions to onboard screens, adding a new layer of intelligence to the driving experience.

Ford’s approach suggests the company is ready to embrace autonomy incrementally, pairing advanced driver-assistance with a platform designed for affordability and flexibility. For now, Level 3 won’t put hands-free driving in every driver’s hands, but it signals that Ford sees the future of autonomy as something everyone—not just the tech elite—can reach.

Source: Ford

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Ford Mustang Still Dominates the American Sports Car Market

Sports cars have never been about mass appeal. They’re indulgences—loud, low, occasionally impractical statements made by people who still care about steering feel and redlines. But even by those standards, 2025 was rough. Sales across the sports-car landscape largely collapsed last year, with only a handful of bright spots punctuating what looks like a slow retreat from the enthusiast market.

The Ford Mustang remains the genre’s immovable object. America’s best-selling sports car didn’t just hold the line—it improved it, posting a modest but meaningful 3.0-percent sales increase to 45,333 units. In a market where “up” is now an exotic concept, the Mustang’s resilience speaks volumes. Whether it’s brand recognition, accessible pricing, or the fact that Ford still bothers to market the thing, the Mustang continues to do what it’s always done: sell.

That success only highlights the pain elsewhere. Chevrolet’s Corvette, once a reliable counterweight to the Mustang’s dominance, fell hard. Sales dropped 26.4 percent year over year to 24,533 units. That’s a steep decline for a mid-engine car that still looks like it escaped from a Le Mans paddock. Supply constraints, price creep, and the fading novelty of the C8 layout likely all played a role. The Corvette is still aspirational—but aspiration doesn’t always translate to signed paperwork.

Dodge’s situation is less subtle and far more dramatic. With the two-door Challenger officially discontinued at the end of 2023 and replaced by new Charger variants, Dodge effectively reset its performance lineup. The result? Charger and Challenger sales collapsed by more than 80 percent year over year, falling from 61,810 units to just 9,562. That’s not a slump—it’s a reboot hangover. Whether buyers eventually warm to the new Charger’s mission remains to be seen, but the old-school muscle crowd didn’t follow immediately.

Elsewhere, the Japanese brands delivered the most interesting surprises. The Nissan Z quietly had a banner year, with sales jumping an impressive 73.4 percent to 5,487 units. That figure nearly doubles Toyota Supra sales, which themselves rose a respectable 12.9 percent to 2,953 cars. Even more interesting is the context: the Supra is mechanically related to the BMW Z4, which barely moved the needle at all. BMW sold 2,113 Z4s in 2025, down less than one percent from the year prior. Toyota outsold BMW by roughly 500 units—a reminder that badge engineering only works when the badge resonates.

The Mazda MX-5 Miata also did what the Miata always does: quietly succeed. Sales climbed 7.7 percent to 8,727 units, making it one of the few sports cars besides the Mustang and Z to post a gain. Lightweight, affordable, and blissfully unconcerned with horsepower wars, the Miata continues to thrive by sticking to fundamentals.

Not everyone was so lucky. Volkswagen’s hot hatches took a hit, and pricing is the obvious culprit. Golf GTI sales fell 24.4 percent, while the Golf R dropped 20.9 percent. Tariffs pushed the R past the $50,000 mark, while the GTI now starts near $36,000—roughly $6,000 more than it cost in 2020. That’s a tough sell for cars once defined by attainable performance. Enthusiasts noticed, and many walked.

Subaru had an especially rough year. WRX sales plummeted 41.1 percent to 10,930 units, a decline Subaru attributed to production priorities at its Gunma Prefecture plant, where Foresters—particularly the Hybrid—took precedence. Translation: sedans got sidelined. The BRZ didn’t fare much better, with sales down 13.8 percent to just 2,881 units. Subaru even raised the BRZ’s starting price by nearly $1,000 for 2025, offering a new Sport mode for manual cars as consolation. Buyers weren’t impressed. Toyota’s mechanically similar GR86 sold nearly three times as many units despite its own 13.0-percent decline.

Step back, and the picture becomes clear. Sports cars aren’t dead—but they are shrinking. Rising prices, shifting manufacturing priorities, and a market increasingly obsessed with crossovers have squeezed a segment that already lived on the margins. The winners are the cars that either offer something truly unique (Miata), carry massive cultural weight (Mustang), or hit the sweet spot between nostalgia and modernity (Nissan Z).

Everyone else is fighting gravity.

For enthusiasts, that makes every surviving sports car feel a little more precious—and every sales report a little more sobering.

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The Original Ford Probe IV Concept Emerges After Decades in Hiding

Every so often, the internet does what the internet does best: turns up something extraordinary in the least dignified way possible. This time, it’s a piece of Ford history long thought lost—a genuine 1983 Ford Probe IV concept car—now casually listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace like a used lawn tractor or a mismatched set of wheels.

According to the ad, spotted by the editorial team at Ford Authority, this is no replica or forgotten show car shell. This is the first Ford Probe IV, chassis 001—the original prototype built by Ghia as part of Ford’s advanced aerodynamics program in the early 1980s. Its current location? Spring, Texas. Its current condition? Let’s call it “historically significant but functionally inert.”

The Probe IV program began in 1979, when Ford asked Ghia a deceptively simple question: just how slippery could a car be if fuel economy were the only priority? The answer arrived in 1983 in the form of a concept so extreme it still looks alien today. Ford claimed a drag coefficient of just 0.15—an absurdly low figure that remains out of reach for modern production cars, even with four decades of computational fluid dynamics and wind-tunnel wizardry.

Of course, there was a catch. Actually, several. The Probe IV wasn’t designed to meet safety standards, carry groceries, or survive a pothole. The composite body sits atop a wooden chassis—yes, wood—with steel subframes solely there to keep the wheels attached. The suspension is manually adjustable, built for testing rather than driving, and the car doesn’t even have a complete gearbox. It doesn’t start. It doesn’t run. It was never meant to.

Chassis 001 lived its entire life as a research tool, shuffled in and out of wind tunnels and engineering labs. Then it disappeared. For years, its whereabouts were unknown, turning it into one of those quietly whispered-about artifacts that historians assume has either been destroyed or buried deep in a corporate warehouse.

We do know what happened to its sibling. Chassis 002 surfaced publicly and sold for around $125,000 in 2022, eventually landing at the Petersen Automotive Museum in California. That car, however, was in far better shape—and still, it wasn’t exactly road-ready.

This newly rediscovered Probe IV won’t command the same money. A non-running, non-driving, purely experimental concept isn’t exactly a weekend cruiser. But value isn’t always about usability. For the right collector, museum, or deep-pocketed Ford obsessive, this is a one-of-one artifact from an era when automakers were willing to ignore reality in pursuit of a single number on a wind-tunnel readout.

That such a car reemerged not at a high-profile auction, but sandwiched between used pickup trucks and patio furniture, feels strangely appropriate. The Probe IV was never meant to fit neatly into the automotive world. Forty years later, it’s still doing things its own way—this time, by reminding us that some of the most important cars ever built were never meant to drive at all.

Source: Ford Authority