US automaker Ford has withdrawn a petition seeking regulatory approval in its native country to deploy self-driving vehicles.

Ford had filed a petition in July 2021 seeking approval to deploy up to 2,500 self-driving vehicles per year without required human controls such as steering wheels.

However, the firm has sent a letter to the US Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stating that it no longer wishes to pursue this approval. It cited the decision to close Argo AI – an independent company that built software, hardware, maps, and cloud-support infrastructure to power self-driving vehicles which received significant backing from Ford and Volkswagen – as a major reason.

The letter, which was made public by the NHTSA on Thursday and dated February 13, said: "As evidenced by the planned shutdown of our ADS partner Argo AI, we believe the road to fully autonomous vehicles, at scale, with a profitable business model, will be a long one.”

The firm said that it is “more prudent” to focus on technologies that “do not require an exemption,” with the company now focusing on partially automated vehicles.

Ford had previously intended on creating self-driving vehicles for the purpose of automated ride-hailing and package delivery. Its petition had argued that the inclusion of “active driving controls and communications would introduce an unacceptable risk to safety" in such vehicles.

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