Stellantis has quietly shelved its first in-house Level 3 advanced driver-assistance program, called Auto Drive. Rising costs, technical hurdles and uncertain consumer appetite have urged the group to pause or abandon development, according to a report by Reuters.

The Franco-Italian-American group, which owns Jeep, Fiat, Peugeot and Citroën, had trumpeted its “AutoDrive” programme earlier this year as a key plank of its future. The system was supposed to allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road in certain conditions – at speeds of up to 60km/h – with the promise of catching up on emails or watching a film while the car took control.

But according to a Reuters report, three people familiar with the project said the scheme has effectively been mothballed. Stellantis itself insists the technology is “ready to deploy”, but admits it has not been launched because of “limited market demand”.

Retreat from a flagship promise

If correct, the decision amounts to a retreat from one of the company’s boldest promises, first made under former chief executive Carlos Tavares. Back in 2021, he had described autonomous driving as one of three platforms on which Stellantis’ future would be built, predicting 20 billion dollar a year in software revenues by 2030. The company even bought Hungarian start-up aiMotive to speed things along.

Now, however, it appears Stellantis will rely more heavily on outside suppliers for driver-assistance systems while concentrating its own resources on what it calls “the customer experience”. Analysts say the shift is part of a broader reckoning in the industry as carmakers wrestle with whether to shoulder the vast financial and legal risks of developing such systems themselves.

A turbulent backdrop

The climbdown also comes at a difficult moment for Stellantis. The group has trailed rivals on electric vehicle launches, seen its share price slump by more than 40% in the past year, and ended its partnership with Amazon on in-car software. Chief executive Antonio Filosa, who only took over this summer, is due to outline a new strategy in early 2026.

Autonomous driving has long been cast as a “prime gamechanger” for the car industry. Yet despite years of hype, only Mercedes has secured regulatory approval for a Level 3 system on both sides of the Atlantic. Most others remain focused on refining the cheaper, less legally fraught Level 2 technology already found in many new cars.

For Stellantis, the decision to put AutoDrive on ice raises fresh doubts about whether one of the world’s biggest carmakers can deliver on its lofty software ambitions – or whether, like much of the sector, it will quietly scale back the promise of driverless cars.