While those two tests run, Ford and its self-driving technology affiliate Argo AI are also piloting a driverless fleet throughout Miami with cameras and sensors to create high-definition maps. Ford will also test an “operations terminal” where the autonomous vehicles will return to roost to be cleaned and serviced with the help of the automaker’s dealers.
“Autonomous vehicles are going to be here a lot sooner than most people think,” Carlos A. Gimenez, mayor of Miami-Dade County, said at a press conference in Miami Tuesday. “Miami-Dade County wants to know and learn from Ford about how these vehicles are going to be integrated into our infrastructure.”
Eventually, all these tests will converge into one vehicle that can ferry commuters during the morning and evening rush, while hauling cargo and food during less traveled periods of the day and night, Marakby said. The more hours the robot car is driving, the more money Ford can potentially make off the fleet of autonomous vehicles it plans to own.
“The business thrives on high utilization and the best utilization is when you have a diverse set of businesses that you can spread out throughout the day,” Marakby said in an interview. “So you’ll have a Ford AV providing both the ride hailing and the goods moving in 2021.”
Hostile Environment
The Ford test vehicles will be operating in a challenging environment. Miami ranks as the world’s 10th most congested city, where commuters spend an average of 64 hours a year stuck in traffic, according to Marakby. And more people died in crashes on the section of I-95 that runs through Miami-Dade County in 2015 than any other county along the highway that extends along the entire Eastern Seaboard.
Ford has many questions it hopes to answer in the test, such as whether a driverless delivery vehicle should double park like the human-driven ones do in big cities today, and whether consumers are willing to pad out to the curb to retrieve their dinner from a compartment in a robot ride.
“All these pieces have to come together to stand up this business in 2021,” Farley said. “That sounds like a long way off, but it’s really not.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.