Ford to start testing self-driving vehicles in Washington, DC

Ford Motor has announced plans to begin testing autonomous vehicles in Washington, DC. The news suggests that the automaker will become the first developer to test vehicles in the capital city of the US.

Ford currently has self-driving car testing programs in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Miami, which involves its $1 billion partnership with Argo AI. The process of making highly detailed maps of the city that are important for autonomous vehicles to operate is already underway.

Ford Autonomous Vehicles CEO Sherif Marakby wrote in the blog post that the automaker will try to distribute its self-driving car testing similarly over the eight wards that make up the district. The presentation comes in advance of offering self-driving car rides on financial basis, which the automaker plans to start in 2021.

“The advent of self-driving vehicles promises an opportunity to make it more affordable and easier for people to get to jobs by filling gaps in access to public transportation, new ways to provide food and other products, and more,” Marakby stated. “It also means change  —  and how we prepare for that change will heavily impact people and their communities.”

It would be interesting to watch that how many other automakers or car sharing companies will expand their autonomous programs the way Ford continues to.