Ford is planning to triple the number of cars it has on city streets and test tracks to research autonomous driving technology.

The expansion will help the automaker accelerate its work on self-driving cars as it moves toward the goal of a mass-market auto featuring the technology.

With the increase, the automaker will have around 30 Ford Fusion Hybrid cars running in California, Arizona and Michigan.

“This gives us the auto industry’s largest autonomous vehicle development fleet,” said Raj Nair, Ford’s chief technology officer, during a news conference at CES in Las Vegas.

Ford started on-road testing of autonomous technologies in 2013, focusing on development of computer algorithms and sensing technology. Last year it became the first automaker to use the Mcity fake town, built by the University of Michigan for autonomous vehicle testing, and in December said it had gained a license to operate its cars in California.

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Source: COMPUTER WORLD