Ford Motor Co. says it has assigned a senior engineer to run its development program for autonomous vehicles, taking the technology from research to implementation.

Ford to have fully autonomous vehicles ready by 2020. Source: FordRandy Visintainer, a 29-year Ford veteran engineer and researcher, will direct a team with the goal of having a fully autonomous vehicle ready by 2020.

Ford has already begun to offer early-stage safety technology like “driver assistance” features, which use radar and sensors to help stop cars before they hit a person or another vehicle.

"During the next five years, we will move to migrate driver-assist technologies across our product lineup," says Raj Nair, Ford group vice president of global product development.

The company says it will bring a forward-collision braking system to at least one vehicle in the U.S. next year.