Ford to Expand Autonomous Fleet, Add New Connectivity Features

However, Nair declined to elaborate on Google’s involvement with Ford’s autonomous drive program.

Mr Fields was speaking against the backdrop of a new move to self-driving cars and greater dependence on automation in vehicles.

However, according to Fields’ keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2016), Ford is moving aggressively into the driverless vehicle space as well, but with a focus on affordability.

Ford is also is expected to discuss its implementation of Android Auto.

It hopes the second-generation vehicle fleet will hope it to test numerous computing and sensor components required to achieve the next level of autonomous driving capability, which would not require the driver to intervene and take control of the vehicle at any point.

Ford started on-road testing of autonomous technologies in 2013, focusing on development of computer algorithms and sensing technology.

Development work for the Ford Fusion Hybrid vehicles were mainly done in its MI headquarters along with a research and development center based in Palo Alto, California. But as for autonomous vehicles, he was conspicuously silent about deals with Google. Ford has been testing autonomous cars on its proving ground for 10 years and plans to begin tests on California roads this year. Fields also said Ford’s future self-driving vehicle could be designed with ride sharing or auto sharing in mind.

These cars will use Velodyne’s new Solid-State Hybrid Ultra Puck lidar sensor. Ford said two of these sensors could replace four LiDAR sensors.

The Ultra PUCKs are small enough to mount on a side-view mirror, Ford said.

“We see being an automotive and a mobility company as being a massive opportunity, and we are very serious about investing in, innovating in and leading in both”, he said. The benefits are enormous (less traffic, fewer collisions, smaller cars, and the death of excess parking, among them), and the main drawback (more vehicle miles) is manageable with cleaner energy. “Today, we’re all hustling to make the most ambitious dreams become a reality”. The newest generation of sensor, which will be fitted to the newly expanded test fleet, has a range of more than 200 meters and is capable of handling multiple driving scenarios.