Ford has withdrawn a petition seeking US regulatory approval for its self-driving vehicles
Ford had previously planned to have as many as 2,500 such vehicles on US roads
In a letter to the US regulatory authority, Ford says it believes the road to self-drive vehicles as a profitable business model 'will be a long one'
Ford also cited its decision to shut its self-drive venture Argo in 2022
The No.2 US car manufacturer instead will focus on partially self-driving vehicles for now
Previously, Ford had sought approval for self-drive vehicles minus human controls like steering, brake pedal and gear selector
Fully autonomous vehicles are still mostly in development stage and there are some very big safety concerns