Ford has said they expect to have a fully autonomous vehicles by 2021 (link: https://corporate.ford.com/innovation/autonomous-2021.html). That always seemed too ambitious to me, but I welcome being proved wrong.
I invested in Ford partly because I think, unlike GM, they recognize an existential threat to their business and are trying to take steps to avoid it. It has been a horrible investment for me this far.
This seems like a knee jerk reaction made by the Ford family out of fear that was unwarranted. But I hope to be proven wrong.
Why do you think GM is unaware of the changing tides? They are currently selling the all-electric Bolt which is meant to compete directly with the upcoming Tesla Model 3. And they are investing however many billions of dollars into self-driving technology with their acquisition and support of Cruise Automation.
As for Cruise Automation, I am not convinced they have accomplished anything groundbreaking relative to their competitors.
I can't speak much about the Bolt. A quick Google search shows a Bloomberg story stating they will lose 8-9k per car sold. GM better hope it doesn't sell well, if that is the case! (link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-30/gm-s-read...)
I didn't even recall the GM incident without clicking the link even though it was so recent.