Ford is bringing its autonomous vehicles to Austin, Texas, the company announced on Wednesday. Ford will start by mapping the streets of downtown Austin this November. Eventually, the size of the fleet and the geographic area will grow until Ford is ready to launch an autonomous taxi and delivery service at scale in 2021, the company said.
The Blue Oval previously named Miami and Washington, DC as its two initial test cities. The company is also testing its cars in Detroit and Pittsburgh, though it hasn’t said whether it plans to launch its taxi and delivery businesses there. None of Ford’s vehicles are fully driverless; the company keeps two safety drivers in each vehicle at all times.
FORD IS ALSO WORKING ON A PURPOSE-BUILT SELF-DRIVING VEHICLE THAT IT PLANS TO UNVEIL IN 2020
Austin has a history with self-driving cars. The city served as a testing ground for Google’s original self-driving prototype, the pod-shaped Firefly. In 2015, a blind man named Steve Mahan took a 10-minute ride around Austin in the steering wheel-less Firefly vehicle.
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