Truck testing is hard. And it’s supposed to be. Automakers have to cram hundreds of thousands of rigorous miles into a few months. But while the trucks are designed to take a pounding, their flesh-and-blood drivers aren’t. So Ford is employing robots and autonomous tech to mitigate the drudgery, while making its testing procedures more accurate, less time consuming, and safer.
Ford partnered with Utah-based Autonomous Solutions Inc. to create a combination of hardware, software, and autonomous technology to remove the humans from the equation, allowing the automaker to test its new full-size Transit van along its Michigan Proving Grounds in Romeo 24/7/365.
Source
Wired