Ford Motor, a US-based automotive company, has partnered with University of Michigan (U-M), for autonomous vehicle research and development.

This is the first partnership of its kind, where Ford researchers and engineers will work in a new robotics laboratory on U-M’s Ann Arbor campus.

Ford president and CEO Mark Fields said: “Ford engineers and researchers will begin working shoulder-to-shoulder with U-M faculty and students to test and learn about autonomous vehicle technology and innovation.

“We are aiming to show the world what we can achieve when leaders in business and academia work together to make people’s lives better.”

The new robotics laboratory is slated to open in 2020 and Ford intends to move a dozen researchers into the North Campus Research Complex (NCRC) by the end of this year.

The new ten year partnership with the U-M is the latest move from the American automotive company to make its fully autonomous SAE-defined level 4-capable vehicles available for high-volume commercial use in 2021. Autonomous vehicles are part of Ford’s expansion to be an auto and a mobility company.

Ford will lease the fourth floor of the new robotics laboratory, which will have space where machines walk, fly, drive and swim. The building will feature house labs, offices and classrooms.

"We are aiming to show the world what we can achieve when leaders in business and academia work together to make people’s lives better."

The company will be locating a team of more than 100 employees on campus, where it will have the advantage of being close to technical leaders as well as facilities, such as Mcity, a one-of-a-kind urban simulation test environment in Ann Arbor.

Ford has been testing autonomous vehicles for more than a decade, and last year it became the first automaker to begin testing at Mcity.

It also is tripling its fleet of autonomous research vehicles this year, making Ford’s fully autonomous vehicle fleet the largest of all automakers.

Image: The robotics laboratory on U-M’s Ann Arbor campus. Photo: courtesy of The Ford Motor Company.