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Ford is setting up the foundation for a wide-ranging autonomous mobility and delivery services project in Miami, Florida, reports Recode.
The automaker is establishing partnerships with companies and a control center that will allow it to oversee operations. It’s also engaging in an extensive mapping project around the city in order to build up a database that cars will be able to reference, and autonomous vehicle testing is already underway in the city.
Ford is splitting its Miami project into three separate but related tasks that will form elements of the company’s wider mobility play:
The company is testing its autonomous vehicles around the city.These tests will help Ford and Argo, an autonomous vehicle software developer it acquired last year, improve the self-driving vehicles that will form the backbone of any autonomous mobility service. Tests of this nature provide an autonomous driving system with valuable data that Ford can use to improve its AI. These cars are also recording high-definition mapping data that Ford will use to help ease the burden on these systems, and make it easier for autonomous vehicles to navigate the city.
It’s also testing delivery partnerships with companies including Domino’s and Postmates. Autonomous vehicles will not only transport passengers but also goods. For now, though, Ford and its partners are using manually driven delivery vehicles, some fitted with autonomous hardware, to study how consumers react to the delivery experience. This effort builds on earlier tests Ford and Domino’s conducted.
And it’s setting up a fleet management center to oversee and maintain these vehicles. This center will be where vehicles not in service will be stored and undergo maintenance, such as cleaning and charging for electric vehicles. The automaker will also use the center to transfer data from the autonomous vehicles to its databases and re-calibrate the sensors. Ford is undecided, though, whether it will manage this center on its own or partner with another company — Waymo partnered with Avis to oversee its fleet management in Arizona, for instance — to maintain its vehicles.
Ford is looking to set up a mobility operation that will maximize fleet utilization when the company starts to roll out autonomous vehicles, which it plans to do in 2021. The company’s Miami project will likely be where it tries out a number of different strategies and approaches to mobility and autonomous delivery, working with partners to iron out kinks before rolling out services in other markets. By defining these partnerships early and creating a blueprint for future pacts, years before commercial autonomous vehicles take to the streets en masse, Ford could gain an advantage over competitors like Waymo and GM in expanding the breadth of its services.
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