Self-driving cars are apparently the new trend in the auto industry, and that has put all the major car makers in a race to see who will be the first to launch an autonomous vehicle. Ford decided the best way to go about accomplishing this task is to put the brainiacs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University to work.

So they launch a joint project with them focusing on developing solutions to some of the technical challenges surrounding automated driving. The task force will be working on the automated Fusion Hybrid research vehicle, which is already considered a very advanced autonomous car.

The project’s goal is to develop new sensors that can see further ahead than what currently is possible. They want to mimic a real driver’s behavior when his view is block by something like a big truck. He would maneuver within the lane to take a peek around it and see what is ahead. They want to develop sensor that can take a peek ahead.

“Our goal is to provide the vehicle with common sense,” said Greg Stevens, global manager for driver assistance and active safety, Ford research and innovation. “Drivers are good at using the cues around them to predict what will happen next, and they know that what you can’t see is often as important as what you can see. Our goal in working with MIT and Stanford is to bring a similar type of intuition to the vehicle.”

Ford believes automated driving is what the future of transportation will be based upon. They want to have fully autonomous vehicles on the roads by 2025.