Ford Will Expand Its Autonomous Vehicle Tests To Austin, Texas

Ford has announced that, after Miami and Washington, it will add Austin, Texas to the list of cities it plans on rolling out a commercial transportation service with autonomous vehicles in by 2021.

Testing is well underway of the self-driving system the Blue Oval is co-developing with Argo AI, in which both Ford and Volkswagen own majority stakes in. The American automaker is using modified Fusion Hybrids to perfect its autonomous systems and, according to Ford Autonomous Vehicles chief executive Sherif Marakby, plans to launch a commercial transportation service in 2021 using a purpose-built hybrid vehicle that drives itself.

Reuters reports that, initially, development teams will be manually driving Fusion test vehicles in Austin, mapping the streets while assessing driver and pedestrian behaviors.

Also Read: Ford And Argo AI Launch Their Third-Gen Autonomous Fusion Hybrid

Austin has been one of the U.S. cities favored by car manufacturers and technology companies working on self-driving technologies and served as the testing ground for Google’s original self-driving ‘Firefly’ prototype that drove itself around with a blind man sitting in the cabin.

Ford and Argo AI’s latest Fusion Hybrid autonomous prototype sports an advanced sensor suite incorporating new cameras and radar sets and runs upgraded software and features improved thermal management systems that generate less heat and noise. The new prototypes also include redundant braking and steering systems that allows them to safely pull over and stop in the event of a malfunction.

Even though arch rival General Motors recently admitted that it won’t be able to meet its deadline of introducing a robot taxi service in San Francisco by the end of 2019, Ford is adamant that its 2021 target is achievable.