No Eyes, No Techs, No Docs

Episode #1238:  Ford is promising eyes-off driving by 2028. But back in the bays, finding top-tier techs is still a $160K challenge. OpenAI wants to be your new health co-pilot with ChatGPT Health.

Show Notes with links: 

https://www.autonews.com/ford/an-ces-2026-ford-doug-field-panel-0107/
“Eyes off the road” is Ford’s new promise—and it’s coming sooner than you might expect.
Ford announced an “eyes-off” driving system launching in 2028, debuting on its new Universal EV Platform.
The platform will support up to 8 affordable EVs, including a $30K midsize pickup.
AI assistant coming to the Ford and Lincoln app in 2026 and vehicles like Expedition and Navigator in 2027.
Ford is vertically integrating hardware and software to reduce driver-assist system costs by 30%.
“Too many companies have outsourced the whole soul of their machines…we chose a more difficult task,” said Doug Field, Ford’s Chief EV, Digital, and Design Officer.

https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/the-160-000-mechanic-job-that-ford-cant-fill-fe6fd121?mod=autos_news_article_pos3
Let’s talk about the $160K Ford Mechanic Job No One Wants. Ford has 5,000 open service bay jobs, some paying over $120K. But techs say the path to get there is grueling and costly—with few making it to the top.
Ted Hummel, a Senior Master Tech in Ohio, made $160K in 2025—but it took over a decade to reach.
Entry-level techs often start under $10/hr and must invest tens of thousands in tools and training.
The “flat rate” pay system rewards speed, not hours worked—but also means zero pay when work is slow.
Physical strain is intense; many leave the profession due to injury before reaching top pay.
“A bay with a lift and tools and no one to work in it,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley, calling it a nationwide crisis.

https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-health/
ChatGPT Enters the Health Chat: OpenAI is rolling out ChatGPT Health, a new experience designed to help users navigate health information more confidently—by connecting medical records and wellness apps securely to AI.
Over 230 million people use ChatGPT weekly for health and wellness questions.
The Health experience is separate from general ChatGPT chats, with extra layers of privacy and encryption.
Users can link data from apps like Apple Health, MyFitnessPal, and Function for more personalized advice.
Medical info stays isolated within Health and is not used for training models.
Built with input from 260+ physicians, it’s designed to support, not replace, clinical care.
“It helps you understand patterns over time—not just moments of illness,” OpenAI said in the announcement.

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Transcript

Paul J Daly: 0:01

It's Thursday, still January 8. Is the automotive State of the Union. Had to make sure it was recording. You know what I mean, on Paul J Daly, it's Collabs here. We're talking about Ford's mechanics, Ford's hands free driving and chat GPT, listening to what we said yesterday on the show and reacting in record time.

Kyle Mountsier: 0:17

Record time. They said exactly. I love it. Like I the pace, the pace right now is so insane, I can't even It's so insane, yeah, like, I thought that the pace of technology growth, you know? Do you know? Do you remember there was, like a stat, this was three or four years ago, so early, when we started the pod, we mentioned this stat a few times about, like, how much data is created in the world. It was like, you know, basically we were doing as much data in a year. That used to be 10 years, yeah, how much I wonder, if anybody's on that stat. Like, are we doing the amount of data in the world now, in like a day that used to be 10 years,

Paul J Daly: 1:04

we're gonna get there. I mean amount of lines of code, the amount of storage, data centers, chips, RAM, yeah, it's gotta be. It really is. Wow. That's staggering to think about. I do remember that stat. We'll have to look that up. We'll get back to you on that. Yesterday, we had a great webinar, fantastic. You could still check it out. Talking about AI that works as hard as you do. Practical Tips for faster sales with our friends at automotive mastermind, you can still go, it's still up. You can go to asotu.com, sign up so you can get the recording. You don't have to wait for anything now. You just watch it when you want, which is what everybody really wants. I want on demand webinars. Give me the webinar right now.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:38

You can get it right now, right now. Play it at one and a half X and be done with it.

Paul J Daly: 1:42

Also, nada parties.com. Has hit the mass adoption curve. We made a post where it's like, we have a little, a little, like, a little curve in the spot where the inflection point, like, goes up now, like 400 users a day, and it's gonna keep going up. And we're like, this is you missing out the little dot Don't miss out. Go to nada parties. If you have a party that you are putting on, a company, an event, a breakfast, whatever it is, we want it to be listed on the site. It's free. It doesn't cost you anything. So please go there and do that, so that people know what's going on. And if you're looking for where to go, times, sign up sheets and all that, we've aggregated it all in one place. Thank you to our friends, friends friends at clairvoy, for helping us make that a possibility. Nada, parties com, don't be the one that's sitting at home by yourself with nothing else to do and you didn't know what it was. Don't do that. No, no, but it started yesterday. All right, let's talk about some Ford news. Actually, two Ford stories today. Front of the house, back of the house. Eyes off. The road is Ford's new promise, and it's coming sooner than people expected. Ford announced an eyes off driving system, I guess that would be considered level four autonomy, launching in 2028 debuting its new universal EV platform. Platform is going to support up to eight affordable EVs, including a $30,000 mid size pickup AI assistant coming to the Ford and Lincoln app in 2026 and vehicles like the expedition and navigator in 2027 so we're just going to release those later. Ford is vertically integrating hardware and software to reduce Driver Assist system costs by 30% here's Doug field Ford's chief EV digital and Design Officer. That's a big job, since too many companies have outsourced the whole soul of their machines. We chose a more difficult task. I think he's right. It's definitely the more difficult task.

Kyle Mountsier: 3:27

Yeah, it's way more difficult still, question mark on that. You know, as as the last four years have gone, obviously, these automakers have probably hired and brought in auto wear and software specialists, where it's becoming a lot more attainable, because they recognized they needed to become software companies. So I think we'll see that shift. You know, two years ago, I was like, super bullish on, don't build anything, please, OEMs. But the dependency of tech, hardware and software adoption and implementation is getting so high that, you know, every company is becoming a tech company in some way. Man, this is, I think one of the one of the first times that Ford has come out and like, put a tech stamp, is a stance on the ground, not just an EV stance, saying that they're going to have eyes on a long time ago, or by 2028 that's really not too far away. That's two years away. That means it's already an R and D and testing, and they already understand that there's a good, good chance that they're going to hit that kind of deadline, especially for the type of company that they are. They're not a Tesla where they can just miss deadlines all that all over the place. So I'm super excited me to cruise, and it's like one of the best out there already from the legacy manufacturer.

Paul J Daly: 4:37

There's one problem with it. Okay, it's $50 a month. I'm out. I'm out. I always think about that. How is it $50 a month for blue crews that use in highway driving? It's like I would have paid for if it was like 15 I'd be like because I've used it a few times, and it's nice to have. But 50 bucks, I have to believe there's three or four people that will pay $15 for every one person that pays 50 and don't they want. All the data. Don't you want the training data? Like, I don't get it.

Unknown: 5:03

I don't get what do we know? What do we know everyone's gonna be for

Paul J Daly: 5:07

your hats to work every day. What do we know? Speaking of people who wear hats to work a lot of days? Hey, segway, Bob's a tech. I'd be backwards hat guy. Let's talk about the $160,000 a year. Ford mechanic job that nobody wants. Ford has 5000 open service pay jobs, some paying over 120,000 but techs say the path there is grueling and costly, with few making it to the top. Ted Hummel, who is a Senior Master tech in Ohio, made $160,000 in 2025 but he said it took him over a decade to reach that point. Entry Level techs often start at under $10 an hour, not New York, and must invest 10s of 1000s of dollars in tools and training. The flat rate pay system, they say reward speed, not hours work, but also means zero pay when work is slow, physical strain is also intense. Many leave the profession due to injury before reaching top pay. Here's Ford CEO Jim Farley says this is a nationwide crisis, saying a bay with a lift and tools and no one to work in it.

Kyle Mountsier: 6:10

Yeah, I, you know, I agree with it is, it's definitely like hard for techs to to grow in a lot of places. But I'm gonna call

Paul J Daly: 6:22

I have a couple Wall Street Journal and I aren't friends on this

Kyle Mountsier: 6:26

one, because here's the thing I know, so many dealerships that are like paying ridiculously top dollar even for training programs because they need to fill texts and tools and and and they're giving tools and training and buying the ASC certification and giving you mentorship and making sure that you have a beta work in and like.

Paul J Daly: 6:48

So the formula is out there. Interesting for me. Yeah, the formula is out there. I think some of the things in here, oh, it took me 10 years to make $160,000 a year with no college education, no formal career path. It's like, okay, you talk to an 18 year old, and let's check in and see how much they're making at 28 there aren't too many 28 year olds that went through college that are making $160,000 a year. So I think that that that argument even as well. It's like, can you imagine making 160 grand at 2830

Kyle Mountsier: 7:17

like, now let's go and it's totally doable. And if you start in a dealership, you're not starting at 10 bucks an hour, that's like Firestone level.

Paul J Daly: 7:25

Yeah, I think that the dealers who want, I mean, there's no I mean, minimum wage in New York is like 15 bucks an hour or 16 bucks an hour. Here's the deal. I think that every dealer that's paying attention to this already knows how to win this game, and they're winning this game. The Playbook exists. I think Ford would be well served to train its dealers and its dealerships on the ones who are doing it really well and trying to implement some of those programs across the country. Like, go talk to our friends at CMA. Go talk to our friends at bozart Ford. Like, well, they don't have any leading some training for Ford. We found out then they're on across the nation. They're on the right path. I think that this is, this is like, this is a Wall Street Journal, click bait a bit, but I will say that the problem is, is that we're educated on the knowledge that there are many places where you can find good work and find career paths. Broad scale education is where we're missing it as an industry. Yes. So if you're not taking this article as a company, replaying it on social and telling a better story. That's where we're missing. There you go. Jason Fleming, chiming in on YouTube today. It's easy, exclamation point, grow the next generation of techs and pay them. Well, it we agree. It's actually very simple, maybe, maybe simple, not easy, apparently, or more people would be doing it. Speaking of simple, more people doing it and

Unknown: 8:39

all the things like chat, GPT listening to what we were saying and executing in hours.

Kyle Mountsier: 8:44

Look, yesterday, we ran this thing about people asking chat GPT for health and legal stuff, and chat GPT said, bet they entered the health chat by rolling out chat GPT health a new experience designed to help users navigate health information more confidently by connecting medical records and wellness apps securely to AI. Over two 30 million people already use chat GPT weekly for health and wellness questions. The health experience, though, is separate from general chat. GPT chats with extra layers of privacy and encryptions. Users can link data from apps like Apple Health, My Fitness Pal and function for more personalized advice. Medical info stays isolated within health and is not used for a training. Any foundational models, the input what came from 260 plus physicians executing over 600,000 request questions and feedback sessions, and it's designed to support, not replace clinical care open. Ai said in the announcement, helps to understand patterns over time, not just moments of illness.

Paul J Daly: 9:47

So it seems like an analysis tool to me, yep, more than especially with those last statements, I wonder, because, like, I've used chat GPT quite extensively for health questions and developing fitness and developing eating. And trying to measure things, I wonder if they shut it down in a way that other models don't right? Like, I'm not a doctor. I can't answer that for you, right? Because when I use mine, I like train it in a way where it's, like, I know you're not a doctor. Here's what I'm asking you to do. I'm asking you to, you know, like, to base it on data, basically clinical research,

Kyle Mountsier: 10:20

to the point of it that, you know, they said, like, not just moments of illness. We even said yesterday, if you go in and, like, I have a headache, that's gonna say you have cancer, right? Easy. But the rationale here is, like any good doctor is gonna go and perform a history questionnaire, and it's gonna say, all right, tell me about your daily habits. Tell me about your your family of origin, what's going on. And so when you think about, like, including a bunch of, you know, if you have an Apple Watch and you have your health data, you you can see trends over time. You can see sleep patterns. You You can maybe take your own blood pressure. You can do, yeah, take all these things. And then, I mean, like, my doctors use an app for for communication and blood work and things like that. So imagine you can link those up to it. You know, I think that the lesson here is that contextual analysis over time is the thing that AI is best at when it's fed the right data. I think the contextual apply that to auto. It's one of the it's one of, oh, go ahead. Apply it to auto before i Well, yeah, the way that you apply that to auto is, don't ask. Don't ask. You know, things that require contextual analysis, point point solution questions, right? Yes. What should I do in my dealership to sell more cars this month? Well, it's going to give you some really generic answers that are broadly scoped across

Paul J Daly: 11:43

all of show up early, respond to your leads, right? Exactly? Yeah. I think with this, like you said, AI tools can help with broad context and multiple input points. I think one of the things in health and likely one of the things in the auto industry, when you start to analyze things. The most helpful thing is multiple points of input a long time in a chronology that allows you to see why changes are happening when they're happening. And I think that's been a huge void in the medical industry, because you only go to the doctor once in however, and if you can now track symptoms, track dates, and GPT can generate, I think, a standardized way to present that to a physician from a platform that they trust, right? If this is developed in a syntax that they say, yeah, we'll accept this syntax. I think it could be a total game changer, right? All right, I think we've done enough. Let's see what they do tomorrow. Look whatever it is, it's Thursday. We're heading and ripping into a weekend. It's what better time to be in the car business? No better time than this. Thanks for being

Unknown: 12:41

here with us today. We'll see you back here first thing tomorrow morning. You.