Ford Takes On Mcity With Driverless Fusion Hybrid

Jennifer van der Kleut

The news was big when the University of Michigan cut the ribbon for its “fake city,” built specifically to test connected and autonomous cars, during the summer of 2015.

Though the city may be fake, the scenarios aren’t-there are simulated traffic lights, obstacles like roundabouts and tunnels, various terrains like brick and gravel, and even fake pedestrians that connected and autonomous test cars need to navigate as they travel around the streets of the 32-acre city.

Ford-which was one of the companies who partnered with the university’s Mobility Transformation Centre (MTC) to help get Mcity going, along with others like Delphi Automotive, Denso, Honda, General Motors, Toyota and Xerox-announced recently that it planned to be the first automaker to test a driverless car at Mcity.

According to news outlets, Ford followed through on that promise last month.

Stuff reports that Ford tested its Fusion Hybrid Autonomous Research Vehicle (ARV) throughout the fake city.

As many news outlets report, Mcity is expected to be a crucial testing ground for autonomous cars this winter, as Michigan is known for its heavy snowfall, ice and brutal conditions.

Tech Times reports that Ford’s goal is to have autonomous cars in mass production by 2021.