Ford’s self-driving car can drive in total darkness

Do not sleep on Ford when it comes to self-driving vehicles. The automaker simply overcame a significant difficulty for driverless automobiles.

Ford stated Monday that it has effectively tested one of its self-driving Ford Fusions in total darkness– no headlights and no street lighting whatsoever. It was so dark you actually required night vision goggles to even see the automobiles.

“The purpose for doing the screening during the night was to test a scenario where there might be bad lighting,” Randy Visintainer, Ford’s director of self-driving cars, stated. “We took it to the severe and went into total darkness.”.

The test occurred on a closed course that was previously mapped out so the vehicle might localize itself in the dark. It traveled up to 60 miles per hour and successfully navigated curved roads, Visintainer stated. The testing occurred in March.