Key Points Ford Motor plans to introduce eyes-off driving technology in 2028, starting with a $30,000 all-electric vehicle. The target brings Ford into a race against competitors such as Tesla, General Motors and Rivian Automotive to develop and broadly launch such systems. The company announced at CES that it's also launching a Ford AI assistant. In this article Squawk Box Field referred to the skunkworks team as a "bet" over the last couple of years that has "started to build a tremendous amount of confidence" over the "last few months." He said Ford now has all of the critical software and supporting hardware it needs in-house for a new generation of technologically advanced vehicles to differentiate the automaker. "One of the things we're seeing is just how much faster our development process works on this product and this architecture compared to what we've done in the past," Field said. "So, we have a lot of confidence in our ability to get this out." Ford last month said it expects to record about $19.5 billion in special items through 2027 related to such restructuring efforts and its pullback in EV investments. Eyes-off driving Field said Ford's planned eyes-off system, which the auto industry refers to as "Level 3 driving automation," will utilize an array of sensors and in-house software development to lower costs compared to competitors. Field declined to comment on the roadmap for expanding the new system to other vehicles, but said the goal is to commoditize the technology. "The actual rollout schedule will be based on a lot of work we have to do on which customers need it in their applications, when, and which products are most ready for it now," Field said. "It'll take time to roll it out everywhere, but we'll prioritize that based on where we will have the biggest impact on customers." Ford's BlueCruise system displayed on the driver information cluster of an F-150 pickup truck. Ford SAE International, formerly known as the Society of Automotive Engineers, has characterized automated driving for vehicles from Level 0 to Level 5. The highest, Level 5, is a fully autonomous vehicle, with each stage from Level 0 adding more technologies and enabling human drivers to be more "out of the loop." Ford currently offers a Level 2 advanced driver assistance system, or ADAS, known as BlueCruise. While active, a vehicle can drive itself under certain circumstances without human intervention on divided highways, but drivers still need to pay attention to the roads and system in case of problems. AI assistant, new vehicle 'brain' Ford's new AI assistant is expected to launch in early 2026 through its phone apps for Ford and Lincoln, followed by a native in-vehicle experience starting in 2027, the company said Wednesday. Several other automakers also have announced plans for AI digital assistants, but Field said he believes Ford's will offer unique capabilities specific to each car or truck by utilizing each vehicle's unique identification number. Ford said the AI assistant will be able to review a picture of a trailer to confirm whether a vehicle can properly tow it, for example, or assess how many bags of mulch the interior of a car or truck can hold. "The AI companion is something we think we can make special for Ford, representative of what we're trying to do on the customer experience side," Field said. Assisting in that better customer experience is expected to be an updated in-house software architecture that Ford's calling an "integrated digital platform" that will debut with the UEV platform. The company said the updated system will result in "a more unified 'brain inside' the vehicle — a single, powerful module that unifies infotainment, ADAS, audio, and networking." "For customers, that means a vehicle that feels more consistent, more reliable, and more capable year after year," Field said in a blog post accompanying the CES announcements.