Ford Motor Co to begin test-driving fully autonomous Fusion hybrids in 2016

Ford Motor Co plans to begin test-driving fully autonomous Fusion hybrids on California roads in 2016, the Dearborn automaker announced last night.

Ford had been testing driver-less cars in some capacity for 10 years, becoming the first automaker to test a fully autonomous Fusion at Mcity, an Ann Arbor automotive proving ground intended to make Michigan a driverless-car technology leader.

Google had been conducting tests on its own autonomous vehicle in California since 2009.

In January, governor Rick Snyder signed legislation to allow testing of self-driving cars in Michigan, after Florida, Nevada and California passed similar laws. Testing is also underway in Pennsylvania which has not passed any special legislation. Ford has not said when it planned to test-drive the car on roads in Michigan.

The new California tests come as Ford steps up its ''Smart Mobility'' plan, which included the opening earlier this year, of a research and innovation centre in Palo Alto, California with  100 researchers, engineers and scientists.

''Our Palo Alto team has grown significantly this year, using research and innovation to explore and develop future mobility solutions,'' Mark Fields, Ford president and CEO, said in a statement. ''We're attracting top talent from around the world to join our team in Silicon Valley, including employees from local technology companies and universities who want to make people's lives better by changing the way the world moves.''

The prototype autonomous Ford Fusion comes with the distinctive four LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors mounted on its roof. The sensors feature lasers with rotating mirrors inside that allow them to perform an all-round scan of the area.

The same scanners are used in most prototype autonomous cars. The cars match the images with a database of prerecorded images to determine its location at any given moment.

Google's self-driving cars can be seen frequently on the roads in Palo Alto and neighbouring Mountain View, where the company has its Google X research centre. Google's fleet of 73, autonomous vehicles is the largest of any company authorised by the state's Department of Motor Vehicles.

Tesla, also based in Palo Alto had licenses for 12 cars.