This was a couple years ago (and I apologize for not being able to find a source), but I heard an interview with a Ford exec about the limits of adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance and he basically said: "Our drivers don't want that. They want the control of their own vehicle."

And not that it's set in stone, and not that organizations can't change, but in general it sure seems like Ford and the other big automakers don't want self driving cars.

Partially, it's a concern that they'll see their existing model torn to shreds if self driving cars become the basis for much more efficient on demand or fractional ownership car usage.

And I think partially it's that the designers, engineers, exec's at Ford are "car people". They love driving cars, they see a romance to them ("the open road"), they have "daily drivers" and "my pride and joy" type of relationships with their cars.

If nothing else, it's abundantly clear that Tesla is coming at this from a whole different direction.