Skip to main content

Ford to begin testing autonomous cars on California’s roads

Fully autonomous Ford Fusion Hybrid sedans are taking to California streets next year, as Ford Research and Innovation Centre in Palo Alto continues growing. Ford is officially enrolled in the California Autonomous Vehicle Testing Program to test autonomous vehicles on public roads. The testing is a further advance of Ford’s ten-year autonomous vehicle development program and a key element of Ford Smart Mobility, the plan to take the company to the next level in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicle
December 16, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Fully autonomous 278 Ford Fusion Hybrid sedans are taking to California streets next year, as Ford Research and Innovation Centre in Palo Alto continues growing.

Ford is officially enrolled in the California Autonomous Vehicle Testing Program to test autonomous vehicles on public roads. The testing is a further advance of Ford’s ten-year autonomous vehicle development program and a key element of Ford Smart Mobility, the plan to take the company to the next level in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience, and data and analytics.

Ford has significantly expanded its Silicon Valley facility and over the past year has conducted research on autonomous vehicle virtual test drive, allowing virtual interaction between an autonomous car and pedestrians, replicating real-world situations to better understand and develop responses to some of the unexpected things that can happen on the road.

Research has also included: sensor fusion, where sensors on autonomous vehicles detect and track objects in the vehicle’s view, fusing information together to provide a 360-degree view of the car’s surroundings – including street signs, other vehicles, even pedestrians; camera-based pedestrian detection, using camera sensors to serve as the eyes of a vehicle, allowing the car to ‘see’ and sense pedestrians; and data-driven health care - using data collection from Ranger pickups and motorcycles outfitted with OpenXC technology, Ford is working with Riders for Health to collect GPS data and mapping coordinates to make health care, vaccines and medication delivery to people throughout rural Africa more efficient and accessible.

“Our Palo Alto team has grown significantly this year, using research and innovation to explore and develop future mobility solutions,” said Mark Fields, Ford president and CEO.

“Having a strong presence in Silicon Valley allows us to further accelerate our research on a wide range of technologies, and apply our insights to create real-world mobility solutions,” said Ken Washington, Ford vice president, Research and Advanced Engineering.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Oregon per-mile charging system launched
    July 6, 2015
    The first US pay-per-mile road charging program went into operation in Oregon last week. OReGO is currently limited to 5,000 vehicles statewide; participants will pay 1.5 cents per mile while driving in Oregon and receive a credit on their bill for state gas tax paid at the pump. ODOT is asking participants for feedback and suggestions for improving OReGO along the way. "The doors are now open for Oregonians to enrol their vehicles and test-drive OReGO statewide," said Vicki Berger, chair of Oregon's
  • Let’s explore Phoenix: Getting transit right in the hottest city in the US
    March 4, 2024
    Ahead of ITS America's Conference & Expo in Phoenix, ITS International asked Transit Unplugged's Paul Comfort (with Tris Hussey) to offer some thoughts on urban mobility in this part of Arizona
  • America fires V2V starting gun
    April 7, 2014
    Leo McCloskey, ITS America’s senior vice president for Technical Programs, talks to Jason Barnes about what the recent NHTSA ruling on light vehicle connectivity means for cooperative infrastructures in North America. In early February the US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it had decided to start taking steps to enable Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication technology for light vehicles. In so doing, the many safety-related applicati
  • Detroit lab to test parking and EV tech
    August 13, 2021
    Collaboration involved input from Ford, Bosch and Bedrock