Skip to main content

Ford plans AV transport in Austin in 2021

Ford Motor is to launch an autonomous vehicle (AV) transportation service in Austin, Texas, by 2021. Reuters says Ford is testing a self-driving system - developed with Argo AI, an AV technology company backed by Ford - in its Fusion Hybrid sedans. Sherif Marakby, chief executive of Ford autonomous vehicles, says the company is planning to launch the service using hybrids that can carry either people or goods. Argo AI says teams will manually drive the Fusion test vehicles to map the city’s streets an
October 4, 2019 Read time: 1 min

278 Ford Motor is to launch an autonomous vehicle (AV) transportation service in Austin, Texas, by 2021.

%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Reuters false https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ford-self-driving-austin/ford-self-driving-cars-to-launch-in-austin-in-2021-idUSKBN1WA1RP false false%> says Ford is testing a self-driving system - developed with Argo AI, an AV technology company backed by Ford - in its Fusion Hybrid sedans.

Sherif Marakby, chief executive of Ford autonomous vehicles, says the company is planning to launch the service using hybrids that can carry either people or goods.

Argo AI says teams will manually drive the Fusion test vehicles to map the city’s streets and assess driver and pedestrian behaviour.  

Ford also intends to launch the AV service in Miami and Washington, DC.

Earlier this year, Ford expanded its AV and electric vehicle alliance with Volkswagen in a move to integrate Argo AI’s self-driving system into thousands of purpose-built vehicles.

Related Content

  • April 17, 2019
    Volkswagen tests Level 4 AVs in Hamburg
    Volkswagen Research is testing autonomous vehicles (AVs) at SAE Level 4 in real driving conditions in the German city of Hamburg. The announcement comes as the fall-out from VW’s ‘Dieselgate’ nightmare – when the company was found to have programmed turbocharged direct injection diesel engines to activate their emissions controls for laboratory tests - putters on. This week the company’s former chief executive Martin Winterkorn was charged with fraud for his involvement. But VW has admitted that the scan
  • July 31, 2018
    Drive.ai self-driving tests with passengers in Frisco, Texas
    Drive.ai is using self-driving vans to carry passengers on a near two-mile route in Frisco, Texas. According to a report by CBS News, the company is the first to launch such a test since an Uber vehicle driving in autonomous mode killed a pedestrian in Arizona. These vans will operate over the next six months, with a safety driver on board, and will travel between an office park and a nearby dining area and entertainment complex. Conway Chen, vice president at Drive.ai, says the service has been desi
  • February 5, 2019
    Texas to form taskforce to develop C/AV projects
    The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDoT) is to create a taskforce which will coordinate all ongoing connected and autonomous vehicle (C/AV) projects in the US state. The C/AV task force is being set up in order to document public and private C/AV efforts, facilitate partnerships, host industry forums and help encourage greater collaboration. James Bass, TxDOT executive director, says: “Our goal is to further build on the momentum already established with the Texas Technology Task Force and th
  • July 24, 2019
    Self-driving bus collides with pedestrian in Vienna
    A self-driving bus trial in the Austrian capital Vienna has been halted after a collision between a vehicle and pedestrian, says Bloomberg. Authorities are now investing the cause of the incident which led to minor injuries. According to Bloomberg, state broadcaster ORF says the Navya vehicle was driving at 7.5 miles per hour when it hit the 30-year-old woman in the knee. In a statement given to The Verge, Navya said witnesses had seen the pedestrian wearing headphones and looking at a mobile phon