Ford AVs on streets of Washington, DC

Ford is to be the first company to test autonomous vehicles (AVs) in Washington, DC – with a view to starting a commercial service there in 2021. The car company – which already has AV trials in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Miami - will begin testing in the US capital early next year. An operations centre will be set up in the city and Sherif Marakby, CEO of Ford Autonomous Vehicles, says fleet deployment will be done in a way that aids job creation. The company plans to work with local officials to tes
October 24, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Ford is to be the first company to test autonomous vehicles (AVs) in Washington, DC – with a view to starting a commercial service there in 2021.


The car company – which already has AV trials in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Miami - will begin testing in the US capital early next year.

An operations centre will be set up in the city and Sherif Marakby, CEO of Ford Autonomous Vehicles, says fleet deployment will be done in a way that aids job creation.

The company plans to work with local officials to test self-driving vehicles in all eight of the district’s wards in a bid to ensure that the entire population has access to the potential benefits.

“We believe that ensuring widespread access to mobility services enabled by self-driving vehicles is vital,” Marakby says, referring to a report by Securing America’s Future Energy, which said AVs could improve people’s access to work.

“The advent of self-driving vehicles promises a chance to make it more affordable and easier for people to get to jobs by filling gaps in access to public transportation, new ways to deliver food and other products, and more,” adds Marakby.

Ford is also to be part of an agreement with ride-hailing firms Uber and Lyft to make data sets available on the SharedStreets platform.

Announced at the second annual Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York, the deal is aimed at providing a common standard for sharing data across all cities.

SharedStreets is funded by the Bloomberg Philanthropies consortium and is designed to make it easier for the private sector to work with cities around the world and utilise data to improve mobility.

Related Content

  • May 17, 2019
    Perfect Data launches ride-hailing app in UK
    Perfect Data has launched a ride-hailing app across the UK which it says will provide local authorities with a map of all vehicles operating in their areas. Darren Tenney, founder of Perfect Data, says Xooox [pronounced ‘Zooks’] will allow regulators to see what’s happening at street level. “At last they will have the power to take action against unlicensed, banned or out of jurisdiction drivers,” he continues. “This will not only help keep passengers safe, it will help protect the income of the hundred
    Read More
  • September 24, 2018
    Passport to invest $5m in updating mobility platform
    Passport is to spend $5m in upgrading its mobility platform to help cities manage parking, dockless scooter and bike services and rideshare services. The company says the solution will allow cities to connect technologies introduced in the future such as autonomous vehicles. Called Passport Platform, the solution was developed to help clients manage their curbside assets and create an environment which can handle and encourage new modes of transportation. Bob Youakim, Passport CEO, says the device h
    Read More
  • February 7, 2019
    No need for safety drivers in AVs, says UK government
    The UK government has signalled that it is ready to allow autonomous vehicles (AVs) with no driver to be tested on public roads. It is already committed to having fully self-driving vehicles on UK roads by 2021. At present, operators are legally required to test AVs only when “a driver is present, in or out of the vehicle, who is ready, able, and willing to resume control of the vehicle”. But the Department for Transport (DfT)’s updated code of practice on trialling AVs on public roads - as opposed t
    Read More
  • November 14, 2019
    Amey: sustainability ‘crucial’ for future of mobility
    No business conversation over the next 10 years can really be had without talking about sustainability, says infrastructure support company Amey. Speaking at the launch of the firm’s latest white paper at the London Transport Museum this week, managing director of Amey Investments Asif Ghafoor insisted that “it needs to be part of your core DNA in your business decisions and investment decisions”. He explained that the paper addresses issues such as having the right people to deliver infrastructure wh
    Read More

Highlighted Content