Ford reveals new driverless car design with slimmed-down rooftop sensors and more advanced capabilities 

• e-mail

Ford has unveiled a sleeker design for its self-driving Fusion.

The new model is still equipped with the current autonomous vehicle platform, but now has more computing power that will help the firm unleash them on the road by 2021.

Also, unlike other autonomous models, the American car maker removed the bundle of sensors from the roof, giving this prototype a more traditional automobile look.

Scroll down for videos 

Ford has unveiled a sleeker design of it self-driving car Fusion. Unlike other models, the American car maker has removed the bundle of sensors from the roof, giving this model a more traditional automobile look

Ford will officially unveil the next-generation Fusion prototype at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week.

The car’s ‘brain’ is stored in the trunk, which processes data transmitted from an array of sensors that help the car ‘see’ its surroundings.

Ford’s new prototype is also equipped with advanced software that works with the sensors to serve as a virtual driver.

And lasers, cameras and radar sensors provide the system with a 360-degree view – up to two football fields in every direction.

Ford has been testing its autonomous vehicles in Arizona, California and Michigan, and plans to hit the public roads for ride-hailing services in 2021.

Earlier this month, the American car maker was found to be a system to use drones to help guide its self-driving vehicles, including on off-road adventures, company officials said.

A drone launched from an autonomous vehicle would help guide it by mapping the surrounding area beyond what the car's sensors can detect. 

Vehicle passengers can control the drone using the car's 'infotainment' or navigation system.

'At some point, people are going to want to take their autonomous vehicle into the woods or off road where the drone could guide them,' said Alan Hall, spokesman for Ford's in house technology department.

The car’s ‘brain’ (pictured) is stored in the trunk, which processes data transmitted from an array of sensors that help the car ‘see’ its surroundings. It will officially debut next week at the Consumer Electronics Show

Ford’s new prototype is also equip with advanced software that also works with the sensors to serve as a virtual driver. And lasers, cameras (pictured) and radar sensors provide the system with a 360-degree view – up to two football fields in every direction

Mr Hall told AFP the drones also could prove useful in areas beyond the digital maps of urban and suburban areas and inter-city highways.

The idea for using drones came out of a 'brainstorming' session of researchers and engineers working on Ford's autonomous vehicle, Hall said.

Tony Lockwood, Ford manager, virtual driver system, autonomous vehicle development, said: 'Ultimately, customers benefit as we open ourselves to new ideas and advance mobility using emerging technologies.'

Lockwood was granted a patent for the idea along with fellow Ford employee Joe Stanek. 

Pieter Gillegot-Vergauwen, vice president of product, management for TomTom, the Amsterdam-based mapping company heavily involved in the development of self-driving cars, said digital mapping is one of keys to building autonomous vehicles.

Earlier this month, the American car maker was found to be a system to use drones to help guide its self-driving vehicles, including on off-road adventures, company officials said (stock image used)

The car maker said the drones also could prove useful in areas beyond the digital maps of urban and suburban areas and inter-city highways

'We've actually looked at using drones for guidance,' he said during a visit to Detroit for a seminar sponsored by Microsoft.

Earlier this year, Ford, along with China-based maker of sophisticated drones DJI, held a competition for programmers to see if they could teach a drone to fly from and return to a moving vehicle.

The idea was to see if a drone could use its cameras to guide a vehicle into and out of a disaster area where communications and roads have been destroyed or disrupted, Hall said.

The plan was to create drone-to-vehicle communications using Ford Sync, the automaker's car-based wireless connection, or other similar systems as a means to inspect areas in an emergency.

At the start of the year, Ford launched a competition offering a prize pot of $100,000 (£68,000) to anyone who can create a drone-to-vehicle communications system using its trucks (pictured) for use in disaster zones

Only one of the 10 participants actually succeeded, with a drone launched from a moving Ford F-150 pick-up truck which returned after completing the assigned task.

Similar technology uses cameras or infra-red systems to help vehicles see around blind corners or terrain where the mapping is incomplete, Hall noted.

'It was a really cool challenge.'

Hall said Ford has joined forces with a team of researchers in the Silicon Valley Research Center in Palo Alto, California, working with the idea of find way drones could help autonomous vehicles solve future navigation problems.