The cars in the garage at Ford’s research centre in Dearborn, near Detroit, mostly look like any other group of Fusion saloons — except for one vital distinction. Each roof sports a series of sensors, sprouting out at crazy angles, to gather information about the surrounding world.
Ford is using these Fusion saloons to develop a sophisticated self-driving car that should manage whole journeys without human intervention. In tests, the company’s autonomous vehicles are gradually logging thousands of miles on Michigan’s roads, and Ford hopes the technology will be in commercial use within four to five years.
Yet many rivals are sceptical about Ford’s efforts to take humans out of the driving process entirely.
Just over 20 miles from Dearborn, in Warren, Michigan, General Motors is taking a far more gradual approach to self-driving cars. It is developing a semi-autonomous system called Super Cruise that takes only the most routine driving — travelling on highways — away from humans.