Prominent car manufacturer Ford recently revealed its plans to launch at least 13 electric cars by 2020.

The ambitious project translates to a $4 billion investment for the company which plans to create its own fleet of electric vehicles for research and development purposes. Ford claims that it is not merely a part of the auto industry which it holds a six percent market share. The company claims that it is part of the $5.4 trillion transportation market.

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During Ford's 2016 Consumer Electronics Show event last week, the company's CEO Mark Fields said that the auto company plans to triple its current number of autonomous or self-driving vehicles. Fields added that Ford is currently testing and plans to adopt the solid state hybrid Ultra Puck sensor developed by Velodyne. This technology will give Ford autonomous cars more precise mapping features.

Regarding the company's current status in terms of research and development, Ford executive director for connected vehicles and services told Venture Beat, "A lot of that work will be at Em City, at our own proving ground in Dearborn. Some of that work will be in California. We recently announced that we've received a license to operate autonomous vehicles in California."

On top of that, Ford is also partnering with prominent drone maker DJI. The partnership aims to develop drone-to-vehicle technology with main focus on emergency applications.

Aside from extensive focus on self-driving cars, Ford chairman Bill Ford Jr. said that they are also focusing on reinventing the company.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the future of the conventional car industry is looking drab in the face of unprecedented rise of electric vehicles and the attention the autonomous car market is getting.

Unlike in the past when Ford faces fellow automaker in the struggle to dominate the market, today's market industry faces a new threat in the form of tech companies. Companies like Google and Tesla are slowly turning to become major threats in the motoring world.

Experts, both in the tech and motoring community, believe that self-driving cars will play a huge part in the future of the car industry. That is why traditional car makers are already investing in the development of their own self-driving car model.