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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Ford has secured a permit in California that will allow it to test driverless cars on public roads in 2016 [washingtonpost.com]:

Ford is showing more signs of a serious commitment to autonomous driving and the future of transportation. The automaker announced Tuesday that it will begin testing a fully autonomous vehicle in California in 2016.

It recently received a permit from the state's DMV to test a Ford Fusion. Ford has already been testing on public roads in Michigan, as well as at MCity, the University of Michigan facility [washingtonpost.com] developed for testing autonomous vehicles. It conducts trials at its proving ground in Arizona, too.

Ford says California's favorable weather will allow it to expand tests. (Snow and heavy rainfall are serious challenges for fully autonomous vehicles.) A new environment provides fresh opportunities for the vehicles to experience new challenges. One unique situation will be dealing with motorcycles that are legally allowed to split lanes in the state.

Planting another flag in Silicon Valley also makes it easier to develop partnerships with the wealth of tech expertise in the area. In January, Ford opened a research and innovation center in Palo Alto, Calif., and hired mostly for the tech sector. Ford says it's also built relationships with the University of California-Berkeley, San Jose State, Santa Clara and Carnegie Mellon.

Also at Reuters [reuters.com], Los Angeles Times [latimes.com]. Here is the California DMV's page for its Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program [ca.gov].

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