Ford will be first automaker to test its self-driving vehicle at Mcity campus

In a recent statement, the University of Michigan (U-M)’s Mobility Transformation Center has revealed that bigwig automaker Ford will be the first automaker to test its self-driving vehicle at the Mcity campus.

The Mcity campus is a 32-acre simulated urban and suburban automated and connected vehicle testing site on the Ann Arbor school's North Campus. The campus offers a safe space for carrying out the testing of self-driving vehicles, as it is essentially a simulated city featuring intersections, traffic signs and signals, streetlights, sidewalks, building facades, and construction barriers.

The Mcity campus is part of the U-M’s Mobility Transformation Center. The facility was opened n July this year, to enable automakers to run their self-driving vehicles through its paces. The simulated city can also be used by suppliers, telecommunications and other companies that are experimenting with different aspects of self-driving vehicle technology.

The vehicle which Ford will test at the Mcity campus will be the company’s Fusion Hybrid Autonomous Research Vehicle. The vehicle is part of Ford’s project focused on the development of sensing and computing technologies, and refining algorithms.

About testing of Ford’s self-driving vehicle at the Mcity campus, Raj Nair -- the VP of Global Product Development at the Ford group -- said: “Testing Ford’s autonomous vehicle fleet at Mcity provides another challenging, yet safe, urban environment to repeatedly check and hone these new technologies.”