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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the where'd-I-leave-that-steering-wheel dept.

Ford plans to build cars capable of SAE Level Four autonomous driving and have them hit the road as part of a ride-hailing service by 2021:

Building on more than a decade of autonomous vehicle research and development, Ford's first fully autonomous vehicle will be a Society of Automotive Engineers-rated level 4-capable vehicle without a steering wheel or gas and brake pedals. It is being specifically designed for commercial mobility services, such as ride sharing and ride hailing, and will be available in high volumes. [...] This year, Ford will triple its autonomous vehicle test fleet to be the largest test fleet of any automaker – bringing the number to about 30 self-driving Fusion Hybrid sedans on the roads in California, Arizona and Michigan, with plans to triple it again next year.

Ford was the first automaker to begin testing its vehicles at Mcity, University of Michigan's simulated urban environment, the first automaker to publicly demonstrate autonomous vehicle operation in the snow and the first automaker to test its autonomous research vehicles at night, in complete darkness, as part of LiDAR sensor development.

Ford also announced investments/partnerships with Velodyne, SAIPS, Nirenberg Neuroscience LLC, and Civil Maps, as well as an expansion of its Silicon Valley presence with a new campus in Palo Alto.

Reported at BBC, NPR, CNBC, and Bloomberg, which notes that the company is skipping driver-assist steps.


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  • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Friday August 19 2016, @01:56AM

    by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Friday August 19 2016, @01:56AM (#389839) Journal

    I don't doubt that they can institute a driver assist program, but I am not sure that even if they do I want to be in a car that has no backup should there be a failure of the group think director, or a local failure of recognition software. What if you need to drive off road or on an unmarked gravel roadway without lines, lanes, or posted markers ? There are quite a few roadways here in AZ that are not county maintained thus have none of the wonders of modern society.

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