SF Motors has started test driving autonomous technology on the streets of Silicon Valley after securing a permit from California's Department of Motor Vehicles to test autonomous vehicle technology on public roads.
With two manufacturing plants and four R&D offices across three continents, SF Motors is aggressively pursuing state-of-the-art intelligent and connected vehicle technologies.
SF Motors Pushes Forward on its Autonomous Ambitions, Deploying Advanced Research and Test Vehicles Across Silicon Valley
SF Motors CEO John Zhang said: "On the heels of receiving our autonomous vehicle test permit in California, we believe this is the ideal time to begin putting our research to the test as we prepare to unveil our intelligent electric vehicles equipped with advanced autonomous and connectivity systems.
"To compete in the global EV market, we've placed a considerable investment in research and development and because our technology is at the core of our vehicles. We're humbled to see our technology be deployed in our backyard and see the future of our advanced systems as exceptionally bright."
SF Motors finalized a multi-year $2.5m agreement with the University of Michigan in late 2016 to conduct proprietary joint research on advanced automated driving systems. This investment has led to ground-breaking progress in autonomous technologies such as heterogeneous sensor fusion, multi-object detection and tracking, and high-performance vehicle motion control.
These technologies and breakthroughs are supporting new product development and extensive testing validation at SF Motors focused on delivering reliable, safe and affordable products to customers. Test drives are being conducted in California and Michigan, with further research expected to continue to advance the technologies.
SF Motors chief technology officer Yifan Tang said: "Looking ahead, SF Motors targets to achieve protected autonomy in 2020 through fast innovations and iterated developments in multiple technology areas, such as deep learning, sensor fusion, path planning, human machine interface, safety and redundancy, vehicle electronics, to name a few.
"We will utilize our strength in system integration as well as supplier partnerships to overcome the many challenges in bringing autonomous driving to the global markets."
SF Motors is also testing autonomous driving vehicles on the roads in China. The company plans to publicly announce and unveil its intelligent electric concept vehicle for global markets at an event scheduled for late March in Silicon Valley.
