Ford Plans to Mass-Produce Fully Autonomous Self-Driving Cars by 2021

— -- Ford Motor Company has announced that it plans to mass-produce fully autonomous self-driving cars for a ride-hailing or ride-sharing service by 2021.

"This is significant," Ford's President and CEO Mark Fields wrote in a blog post today.

"Ford will be mass-producing vehicles capable of driving fully autonomously within five years," Fields said. "No steering wheel. No gas pedals. No brake pedals. A driver will not be required."

Though Ford appears to be a tad late with its announcement -- other automakers like General Motors and Volvo announced similar plans to get out self-driving vehicles earlier this year -- the company appears to be one of the first automakers to skip the step of building semi-autonomous cars before fully autonomous ones.

"We abandoned the stepping-stone approach of driver-assist technologies and decided we were going to take the full leap," said Ford's Chief Technical Officer Raj Nair.

Ford believes that semi-autonomous systems are actually dangerous, Nair said. He explained that engineers couldn't figure out how to make sure drivers were engaged and ready to take over if the an obstacle was encountered and the car wanted to give control back to the driver.

Jeremy Carlson, a senior analyst with IHS Automotive, said he didn't know of another automaker taking Ford's approach, but noted that that there are challenges either way.

For example, riders may have a hard time fully trusting autonomous cars, but semi-autonomous cars can be dangerous because drivers may not understand what the vehicles can and cannot do, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.