Ford is trying its level best to come first in the market race for self-driving cars. All the automobile lovers out there might already be aware about the buzz the term 'self-driving cars' has created over the period of time.
In order to ace the race, Ford has decided to triple its autonomous vehicle testing fleet. The company already has an innovative device ready with them in order to bring autonomous vehicles to the masses.
The newly launched LiDAR device is from Velodyne and is called the Ultra Puck. It is much smaller in size than its previous version that were originally being used on Ford's autonomous fleet.
The new device was specifically designed for automotive use and helps extend the sensing range by 200 meters from the last generation. It also has improved precision, allowing it to better create maps and models for testing.
Originally developed for use in the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) autonomous vehicle competitions, Velodyne LiDAR now provides a full line of sensors capable of delivering the most accurate real time 3D data on the market.
According to Ford's CEO, Mark Fields, while a lot has been said about the technology, nothing concrete has actually come out in the market. But at Ford, the company is actually very serious about the technology and has a very dedicated research and development team working hard for the past ten years to make the dream of self-driving cars a reality.
Adding on the company's stance on the technology, Raj Nair, Ford's group vice president for product development said that the company will now have 30 Fusion autonomous vehicles on the road and test tracks in Arizona, California, and in Michigan.
According to industry rumours, Ford has already progressed from the research phase into the advanced engineering stage for the project. Further, the rumour mill is also hot with the rumour that Ford has partnered with technology giant Google in order to use the giant's help in developing its autonomous technology.
In what adds to as another effort by Ford in making self-driving cars a reality, the automobile company had recently launched the third generation LIDAR technology, which it now using on its self-driving cars project.
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