Ford has been working on autonomous or self-driving car technology for many years now and there’s no doubt that the company is very serious about this, it was just a couple of months ago that Ford CEO Mark Fields said that he expects to see fully autonomous cars on roads in four years. The company certainly doesn’t want to be left behind which is why it’s getting even more serious, Ford has announced that it’s going to triple its fleet of Fusion Hybrid autonomous research cars this year.
First and second generation Velodyne sensors with the latest one on the right.
This means that Ford will have a fleet of fully autonomous research vehicles that’s the largest of all automakers. The new vehicles that are going to increase its fleet will feature Velodyne’s advanced new Solid-State Hybrid (SH) Ultra PUCK Auto sensor which will provide precision that’s instrumental for mapping and creating real-time accurate 3D models of the surrounding environment which the car uses to navigate itself.
Many companies that are testing their own self-driving cars are either testing them out on closed circuits or those that have brought their technology up to that level, in cities amidst real traffic and people.
Ford went one step further, it built an entire fake city called Mcity sprawling 32 acres and recreating a full-scale simulated real-world urban environment. This allows the company to really put its autonomous vehicles to the test in simulated real-world urban environments without risking real people or their property.
Filed in . Read more about Autonomous Cars, CES 2016 and Ford.