Fordrobot drivers are being used for testing trucks and cargo vans to test high-impact situations that may be too taxing for human drivers.

“The challenge is completing testing to meet vehicle development time lines while keeping our drivers comfortable. Robotic testing allows us to do both,” said Dave Payne, manager, vehicle development operations.

“We accelerate durability testing while simultaneously increasing the productivity of our other programs by redeploying drivers to those areas, such as noise level and vehicle dynamics testing.”

Ford Robot drivers to improve Durability Testing of vehicles

Ford is the first in the automotive industry to successfully use robotically-driven vehicles on our test tracks. These autonomous vehicles are used 24/7 on Ford’s Michigan Proving Grounds test tracks that are too hazardous for regular human driving.

The durability technology includes a robotic control module installed in the test vehicle that controls vehicle steering, acceleration and braking. A robotic module is set to drive the car on a pre-programmed route, though it is tracked by cameras and GPS which are accurate to plus/minus one inch. If at any point the vehicle strays from its programmed course, engineers have the ability to stop the vehicle, course correct as necessary, and restart the test. Onboard sensors can command a full stop if a pedestrian or another vehicle strays into the path.

The vehicles are then driven through a range of daunting stress tests, including broken concrete, cobblestones, metal grates, rough gravel, mud pits and oversized speed bumps. Some of these tests were previously only performed once a day due to the stress that was placed on human drivers, but now, with this robotic system, Ford can run them throughout the day and even develop more challenging durability tests to build tougher vehicles.

“The goal here was not to develop a truly autonomous vehicle that can drive itself on city streets. Our objective was to create a test track solution that allows for this type of intense testing that could take our vehicles to the most extreme limits of their engineering while ensuring the safety of all involved,” concluded Payne.