Built Droid Tough

[Moby Vic]

Ford has started using robots to perform durability drive testing for the F Series and Transit:
http://www.pressandguide.com/article...b565493591.txt

Excerpt:

DEARBORN — Ford Motor Co. is the first automaker to develop robotic technology that drives vehicles during new accelerated high-impact on- and off-road durability testing.

The robotically driven vehicles ideally suited for durability test conditions that could prove too taxing for human drivers.

Engineers have developed the industry’s first robotic test driving program — now in use at the company’s Michigan Proving Grounds in Romeo — to meet demands that Ford trucks undergo ever more strenuous testing with greater frequency.

The pilot program has been used most recently for durability testing of Ford’s all-new full-size Transit van, which launches in 2014.

“Some of the tests we do on our commercial trucks for North America are so strenuous that we limit the exposure time for human drivers,” says Dave Payne, manager of vehicle development operations. “The challenge is completing testing to meet vehicle development time lines while keeping our drivers comfortable.

“Robotic testing allows us to do both,” he says. “We accelerate durability testing while simultaneously increasing the productivity of our other programs by redeploying drivers to those areas, such as noise level and vehicle dynamics testing.”

I approve.