As the third-quarter earnings drumbeat continues, we learned more about the state of global supply chains, global consumer appetite for big-ticket items and the future of self-driving technology.

After the bell this afternoon, Ford beat Wall Street analyst revenue estimates of $36.25 billion, per Yahoo Finance, with automotive Q3 2022 top line of $37.2 billion, and total revenues of $39.25 billion, up 10% despite lingering supply chain issues. The company’s adjusted earnings per share also came in ahead of expectations.

However, the financial news was quickly outweighed at least in commentary terms by the company’s choices regarding autonomous vehicle technology. TechCrunch broke the news earlier Wednesday that Argo AI, a self-driving company in which Ford was an investor, is shutting down.

Ford, in its earnings report, wrote that it is shifting its capital spend from the Level 4 autonomous systems being developed by Argo AI to internally developed "L2+/L3" advanced driver assistance technology.

"So it's taking that investment and putting it towards a business where we think we will have a sizable return in the near term relative to one that's going to have a long arc," said Doug Field, chief advanced product development and technology officer at Ford, during Wednesday's investor call.

Jim Farley, Ford’s CEO, even went so far as to say “profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are a long way off and we won’t necessarily have to create that technology for ourselves.”

"We don't expect a single 'Aha!' moment like we used to," he said during a call with investors. "Advancing Level 2 hardware and software beyond what Blue Cruise can do today, and ultimately enabling our customers to travel in very large ODDs or operating domains with their eyes off the road will give them back the single most valuable commodity in our modern lives. Time."

Letting go of the Argo AI investment, however, had a material impact on the company’s profitability in the quarter. To unwind the trade, Ford had to endure a $2.7 billion “non-cash, pretax impairment” on its Argo stake. That pushed the company’s GAAP results into negative territory for the three-month period.