Ford Is Testing Its Self-Driving Cars In A 32-Acre Fake City

Ford has said in the past that it expects cars to be fully autonomous in the next 15 years, and the automaker has now taken another step toward making that prediction come true.

The company is now testing its self-driving cars at the University of Michigan’s Mcity, a 32-acre testing site that simulates both urban and suburban environments. Ford is the first company to test its autonomous vehicles in this “fake city,” allowing it to see how its self-driving cars perform when driving on various surfaces, such as dirt, concrete, asphalt and more. The test environment also includes different road layouts, including roundabouts, tunnels, curves, crosswalks, and roads containing up to four lanes.

The facility is part of the university’s Mobility Transformation Center, which opened in July and is to be used by more than a dozen automakers, suppliers, telecommunications and other companies to develop autonomous driving technology. The environment can also be used by faculty and students to pursue their projects and studies.

“Testing Ford’s autonomous vehicle fleet at Mcity provides another challenging, yet safe, urban environment to repeatedly check and hone these new technologies,” said Raj Nair, Ford group vice president, Global Product Development. “This is an important step in making millions of people’s lives better and improving their mobility.”

The automaker’s Fusion Hybrid Autonomous Research Vehicle is equipped with cameras, radar and sensors, including LiDAR, to generate a real-time 3D map of the car’s surrounding environment, allowing it to make effective driving decisions.

“We are pleased to welcome Ford as the first automaker to use Mcity to test autonomous vehicles,” said Peter Sweatman, director of the Mobility Transformation Center. “Mcity offers a unique, real-world test environment that will help Ford accelerate development of its autonomous technology while building on its existing collaboration with the University of Michigan.”

University of Michigan engineering professor Ryan Eustice, who has been assisting Ford since 2006 with its self-driving car development, says that Mcity “allows us to be maximally evil to the technology we’re testing,” since any errors won’t impact the public. “The public tends to think that self-driving cars are here, but the reality is that some of the [environment] sensing tech isn’t fully baked yet,” explained Eustice. “To truly have this roll out nationwide, these cars would have to be ready for all sorts of weather and situations.”

Ford is one of many companies that are researching and developing autonomous car technologies. Google has been testing self-driving cars for approximately six years, while Tesla and Uber have discussed plans to develop similar vehicles. Apple is also rumored to be working on its own autonomous electric car, although the tech giant has never offered any concrete information about its development.

The following video shows a Ford autonomous car driving around Mcity: