Ford testing driverless cars in fake Mcity town

Ford’s “Mcity” is a fake town sprawling 32 acres, it has been designed by University of MI and it recreates a “full-scale simulated real-world urban environment” that’s engineered to test automated vehicles to accelerate development time.

The Dearborn-based company says it’s the first automaker to test such vehicles at the 32-acre site, which officially opened in July on the university’s Ann Arbor campus. “This is an important step in making millions of people’s lives better and improving their mobility”, said Najir. The new age vehicle research included front-facing camera technology, ultrasonic sensors, radar as well as LiDAR sensors which generate real-time 3D maps of the surroundings of the auto. The fake city is a ideal environment for testing as it includes everything from a real one: red lights, signs, crosswalks, bike lanes, traffic control devices, lane delineators, sidewalks and trees. Also, Ford Fusion Hybrid Autonomous Research Vehicle can be tested over a wide range of surfaces, as concrete, asphalt, simulated brick and dirt.

When Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) tests its vehicles at MCity, it will be able to gain on the ‘scaling factor.’ According to the Associate Professor as well as Principal Investigator on the Ford-Project at U-M, Ryan Eustice the project gains from the scale of things.

The University of MI often reminds observers of its close tie to the 38th U.S. President, Gerald R. Ford.

Ford offers a full portfolio of semi-autonomous technology and the most available driver-assist features in four vehicle segments in the United States – large light-duty pickups with F-150, midsize SUVs with Edge and Explorer, midsize cars with Fusion and large cars with Taurus. “Every mile driven there can represent 10, 100 or 1,000 miles of on-road driving in terms of our ability to pack in the occurrences of hard events”.

Ford used MCity to test their Ford Fusion Hybrid Autonomous Research Vehicle, in particular its advanced sensing technology. This is what Henry Ford did 112 years ago.