Hyperdrive

Ford Builds Its Most Advanced Factory to Make Electric Truck

Robots will work alongside humans assembling Ford’s F-150
Battery-powered version of the pickup goes on sale in 2022

An all-electric Ford F-150 prototype towing more than 1.25 million pounds of rail cars and trucks during a test.

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By Keith Naughton

September 17, 2020 at 8:30 AM EDT

Updated on

September 17, 2020 at 12:44 PM EDT

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Ford Motor Co., facing an onslaught of competition for its new battery-powered F-150 pickup, unveiled the high-tech factory that will produce the electric truck using self-driving transport sleds and robots collaborating with human workers.

The plant is going up inside Ford’s 92-year-old Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan, and will be the “most advanced facility we’ve got in the world,” manufacturing chief Gary Johnson told reporters in a briefing Wednesday. The autonomous sleds will transport truck bodies from one station to the next, while robots help assemble the vehicles. The factory is scheduled to be completed next summer and begin building prototype electric F-150s.