Here’s Another Ford F-150 Sporting Some AV Hardware: Photos

Ford Authority first spotted a Ford F-150 testing with autonomous vehicle (AV) hardware attached to it back in April 2021, in that case, wearing a massive rig on its roof containing both LIDAR and corner-mounted cameras. Just a few months later, Ford Authority spotted a Ford Super Duty driving around with an array of sensors and cameras at both ends, too. Those sightings were followed by two more – one of an F-150 Raptor equipped with a full suite of AV hardware, as well as a regular F-150 wearing what appears to be Level 3 autonomous gear. Now, Ford Authority has spotted yet another Ford F-150 wearing AV hardware.

This particular Ford F-150 is a Platinum-trimmed pickup powered by the twin-turbocharged Ford 3.5L V6 PowerBoost hybrid, but as one can see in these photos, the most interesting thing about it is the abundance of gear that it’s equipped with. That includes a giant rig on the roof, as was the case with previously-spied prototypes, along with sensors located on the front fenders as well.

None of this is particularly surprising, of course, given Ford’s big push into autonomous driving technology in recent years. Though it shuttered Argo AI – the Ford and Volkswagen-backed self-driving company – a few months ago, FoMoCo created its own separate entity in-house called Latitude AI. That new subsidiary will focus on Level 3 and 4 autonomy in the short term after Ford realized that Level 4 and 5 tech won’t be profitable anytime soon, and has taken over Argo AI’s headquarters and test track while also hiring hundreds of its engineers to further those efforts.

Meanwhile, Ford has been working on developing a Level 3 version of its existing BlueCruise hands-free highway driving assist feature, which has steadily grown in popularity since its launch roughly two years ago, which could very well be what we’re looking at here.

We’ll have more on the F-150 soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series news, Ford F-150 news, and continuous Ford news coverage.