You don't need Ford per se, but you do need an experienced manufacturer to take a concept car to mass production, and you need mass production to make something affordable.
Would be interesting to follow, but as of now they look to be in a startup phase still. Car companies take years to establish themselves. This one seems close though, they say they will do their first deliveries later this year.
It's almost exactly what I want out of a truck… except I'm no longer seeing non-RWD options (could've sworn there used to be a 4WD option; did I hallucinate that or are they just not showing it anymore?).
[0] https://www.slate.auto/en