USA TODAY

DETROIT -- Ford will debut an upgraded version of its self-driving Ford Fusion Hybrid sedan next week, one equipped with more advanced sensors, more computing power and proprietary software that helps the car think for itself.

The automaker's second-generation self-driving prototype has a brain located in the trunk that processes data collected by a host of high-tech sensors that can see the road.

There, the equivalent of several high-end computers generate one terabyte of data an hour. Ford says that's more than the average person would use in mobile phone data in 45 years. Those computers process data gathered by the sensors with a software system Ford has developed in-house.

The car will make its debut in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, the giant trade exposition for the electronics industry. Increasingly, CES has become a showcase for automakers wanting to unveil their latest in self-driving car technology as well as infortainment systems and other automotive digital offerings.

"It’s been three years since we hit the streets with our first Fusion Hybrid autonomous research vehicle, and this latest version takes everything we learned and builds on it," according to a blog post from Chris Brewer, Ford's chief engineer of autonomous-vehicle development, posted on Medium.

Ford is among a host of automakers investing heavily in the development of self-driving vehicles in a industry movement that has the potential of revolutionizing how people get around every day.

Earlier this month, General Motors said it plans to begin testing a fleet of autonomous Chevrolet Bolts on public roads around metro Detroit and will produce them at the Orion Assembly plant in Oakland County.

Also, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles delivered 100 uniquely outfitted Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans to Waymo — previously Google's Self-Driving Car Project — so that the tech giant can outfit the minivans with its self-driving technology. One of them is expected to make its debut at CES.

Ford said in August it would develop a fully autonomous car that it will begin selling in 2021. Unlike some automakers, who view the development of self-driving cars as a multistep evolutionary process, Ford said it believes the industry must make the leap all at once.

Brewer said Ford's goal is to develop a fully autonomous car that does not require the driver to operate the vehicle.

"Building a car that will not be controlled by a human driver is completely different from designing a conventional vehicle," Brewer said in a blog post. "Just as we have confidence in ourselves and other drivers, we need to develop a robust virtual driver system with the same level of dependability to make decisions, and then carry them out appropriately on the go."

Ford developed its first 10 self-driving Ford Fusions based on the 2013 version of the hybrid sedan. Now, Ford has finished building a test fleet of 30 self-driving Ford Fusion sedans and says it will triple that fleet to 90 by the end of 2017.

Most automakers are using hybrid vehicles as the basis for self-driving cars because a standard gas-powered car lacks the electrical power necessary to support such a vehicle's data processing requirements.

Brewer said the new version of the Fusion Hybrid test vehicle includes:

•Two hockey-puck-sized LiDAR sensors, each generating millions of beams, jutting from the car’s front pillars, providing a 360-degree view.

Three cameras mounted on two racks on the roof.

•A forward-facing camera mounted under the windshield that works to identify objects and read traffic lights on the road.

Short- and long-range radar sensors — adept at seeing through rain, fog and heavy snow and at helping to determine how an object is moving relative to the car.

•A second, independent power converter connected to the Fusion Hybrid's battery added to supplement the computing power.

Ford's second-generation self-driving Ford Fusion Hybrid will debut at CES next week and also will be on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month.