Ford has detailed plans to triple its fleet of fully autonomous Fusion Hybrid sedans, claimed to represent the largest fleet of self-driving cars in the automotive industry.
The company does not have thousands or even hundreds of prototypes on the road, but merely 10 in its current test fleet. The expansion will add 20 more sedans, allowing engineers to hasten development of software and hardware technologies for production vehicles.
The cars will be outfitted with Velodyne’s latest Puck LiDAR sensors, enabling the system to ‘see’ out to 200 meters in all directions. LiDAR systems can be seen on nearly every autonomous prototype, but the technology has been prohibitively expensive for production. Velodyne has set a mass-production ‘target’ of $500 for the Ultra Puck, compared to approximately $30,000 for the LiDAR sensors used on the current Fusion testbeds.
Ford suggests the new Puck’s small size will enable the units to be placed on sideview mirrors, allowing the number of LiDAR sensor units to be reduced from four to just two.
The company’s first-generation autonomous vehicle platform was built upon a F-250 Super Duty chassis for participation in the DARPA challenges a decade ago. The Fusion was picked for the second-generation prototypes, introduced in 2013.
“We’ve come a long way since DARPA,” said Ford’s autonomous tech lead, Jim McBride. “A decade ago, no one in the field knew what the art of the possible was. Today, we’re all hustling to make the most ambitious dreams become a reality.”
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