Carmaker Ford is entering the autonomous vehicle fray, following the announcement that the company has been given a permit to test its self-driving cars on public roads in California, United States.
The company has been developing self-driving technology for a number of years now, but this is the first time that it has been permitted to test its autonomous vehicles on public roads. A number of Ford’s rivals have already been allowed to test self-driving cars on Californian roads, while Alphabet’s autonomous vehicles were first to the punch.
Ford’s self-driving car will be a modified version of its Fusion Hybrid sedan. In California, it will be joined by autonomous models from the likes of Volkswagen, Honda, Mercedes, Tesla, BMW and Nissan.
California is one of a handful of states that allow autonomous cars to be tested on public roads.
The autonomous vehicles market is quickly growing, and while no self-driving cars have been made available to the public, the number of manufacturers exploring the technology has skyrocketed in recent years. Analysts believe that, by 2020, self-driving cars should be available to the public.
