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Ford's Miami Unit Now Likes to Combine Autonomous Testing With Community Work

In case you were wondering, Ford’s autonomous vehicle unit (Ford AV LLC) and its partner Argo AI are used to making charitable deeds while advancing their program for self-driving vehicles in the outgoing Fusion sedan. That gets us wondering – when time comes for the Blue Oval to replace the recently-announced 2020 Escape Hybrid-based AV, is it going to use something a little more adventurous and iconic, such as a 2021 Bronco 4-Door?
Ford The Education Fund AV project Miami 20 photos
Photo: Ford Motor Company
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While waiting to see if that will happen, the Blue Oval is actively preparing for a driverless future. That’s still very much a big thing at Ford, even though self-driving cars and the subject pretty much fizzled out when it comes to prototypes being tested thoroughly after Tesla started demonstrating full self-driving (albeit Beta) capabilities... in real life situations.

It’s a complicated matter, and one that needs marketing gimmicks to get back on the newsreel. We’re not going to accuse Ford of pulling out a PR rabbit out of its autonomous hat because we’re always an order of magnitude more lenient when it comes to companies performing virtuous deeds.

As such, we can tell you that Ford’s autonomous outfit that’s been dwelling in sunny Miami for quite some time has decided to “help make a positive impact in communities by providing greater access to transportation and delivery services.” This is one of the reasons – the other being the continued development and perfection of their AV tech – for teaming up with The Education Fund, a local non-profit organization from the Miami-Dade County area.

They set up a new pilot project alongside partner Argo AI in support of The Education Fund’s Food Forests for Schools program, which promotes healthy eating habits at local schools and at home by growing fresh vegetables and foods on location. That means the products can be used both on-site – at school cafeterias – and at home, with students allowed to bring some of them to the family.

With the ongoing health concerns, Ford has decided to use its autonomous test fleet to facilitate “contactless deliveries from the Food Forests to students and their families.” The company is using their outgoing AV platform that’s hooked to the Ford Fusion Hybrid sedan.

With Ford already announcing the Escape Hybrid as the successor to Fusion Hybrid AV, it means we'll have to wait some more years for the next iteration of the self-driving development platform. We already have a candidate in mind – the 2021 Bronco 4-Door would be great for conquering the next level of self-driving, the great outdoors.
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About the author: Aurel Niculescu
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Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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