For the sake of all of you Ford (NYSE:F) shareholders, I sure hope autonomous cars can reinvigorate Ford stock. You’ve suffered enough financial pain in recent years. In mid-October, I suggested that F stock had bottomed and was likely going to rebound making it a potential buy for patient investors.

Personally, I wouldn’t buy Ford stock, but I do think autonomous cars can help shore up its business. Here’s why.

Profitable Deployment

Recently, Sherif Marakby, Ford Autonomous Vehicles CEO told CNBC this about the company’s plans for self-driving cars:

“We’re laser focused on profitability … While the vehicle is expensive, initially we’re deploying it in service so the cost per mile for transportation for a person or a business is going to be lower and will be profitable for us.”

For Ford, unlike Waymo, its autonomous vehicle service will be a great way to advertise the company’s new self-driving cars.

Imagine, you order a ride from the service, and up rolls a brand new, self-driving Ford F-150 (or whatever names these trucks and SUVs will be sold under), and takes you safely to your destination. I know for my wife, who travels by car for business to several destinations in Canada’s Atlantic provinces, it would be a godsend; I’m sure there are lots of other people in the same situation.

Ford is building a three-track business: First, the manufacture of self-driving vehicles for personal and commercial use. Secondly, a ride-sharing service for major cities in the U.S. and elsewhere. And finally, a cloud-based app that it can license to other self-driving car and truck services.

That last one’s significant because the possibilities for enhancing the vehicle ownership experience through the app are limitless.

Vehicle owners see no problem paying for satellite radio, OnStar and other add-on services. Who wouldn’t pay for an upgrade that allows you to call your car from the parking lot — including paying the parking fee — to come to pick you up at the restaurant around the corner and take you home?

If you’re currently an Uber user, I have to think you’d be interested in that option. However, the odds of that being available in 2021 seem low considering the new technology, etc.

But we can dream.

Is Ford Stock the Best Play?

While I have no reason to believe Ford won’t be successful with autonomous cars, I do wonder if there isn’t a better way to profit from the self-driving vehicle movement.

You can bet on the car manufacturer or you can go farther up the supply chain to someone like Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) who provides the equipment necessary for self-driving cars to function correctly.

“The company’s sensors are pivotal to much of the self-driving technology arena,” InvestorPlace’s Ian Bezek wrote Nov. 16. “Texas Instruments has long specialized in analog chips. These are able to take real-world data such as temperature, precipitation, wind speed and other such factors that are essential knowledge for a self-driving vehicle. The company also produces sensors that provide radar systems for self-driving vehicles.”

It’s not quite as glamorous, I’ll grant you, but successful investors often go for singles and doubles rather than big-play home runs.

Bottom Line on Ford Stock

We don’t know how Ford will do against the other car manufacturers, but we do know they’ll all need sensors to keep the vehicles safely on the road.

So, if you ask me what one stock to buy to benefit from autonomous cars and your investor profile screams risk-adversity, I’d have to recommend something other than Ford stock.

However, do I think that autonomous vehicles are a savior for Ford stock? They’re the best bet in my opinion for dragging its share price out of the basement.

If you’re a patient investor (five years or more), now’s as good a time as any to be buying. 

As of this writing, Will Ashworth did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.