As we celebrate America 250, we look at Henry Fords assembly line. Its introduction had far-reaching effects on both industry and transportation, and the technology is still thriving today.

The first Model Ts were hand-built at the Detroit Piquette Avenue Plant, but the modern assembly line was invented and perfected at the Ford Highland Park Plant. Then as demand for the automobile expanded, it was time for a bigger facility.

Were standing today at the Dearborn Truck Plant at the famous Rouge Complex that Ford began building in 1917. Were watching F150s come off the line, said Ted Ryan, archives and brand manager for Ford.

Today, a brand new Ford F-150 is minted every 53 seconds. Its an engineering marvel, and it didnt happen overnight.

In 1908, the Model T was developed. And its the car that put the world on wheels. Affordable car, designed from the beginning to be a mass-produced car. And it was done at Piquette, but they were all hand-built at Piquette. The idea with Ford management, they had seen slaughterhouses, how a cow would go down the line and be slaughtered. And within the munitions industry, rifles were often produced by going down a line. And so P.E. Martin and Henry Ford got the idea that they could do it with a car, said Ryan.

That's what sparked the idea for a modern assembly line.

The modern assembly line is one of continuous movement, where it starts at one end and it finishes at the other end as a completely finished product," said Ryan. Whats even more amazing is continuous movement over three different floors at Highland Park, so that the chassis might start on the third floor and it finishes on the second floor as a completely different floor, having gone down to the first and come back up again. The amount of planning and ingenuity it took to offer continuous motion where the parts could be applied to the car was just staggering.

The technology spread like wildfire.

It shaped culture, and it shaped the world because of an interesting fact Ford gave it away. We invited our competitors and other industries to come and study our assembly line process," he said.

"Did it really spur the age of mass-industrialization?" I asked.

The assembly line 100% spurred mass industrialization because you began to see it applied to other industries. You always had your special, youre going to have Tiffanys making Tiffany jewelry. But if GE can then figure out how to make a light bulb using autonomous processes, all these other things can be done in an assembly line process-driven formula, then the world becomes a more efficient place, said Ryan.

The efficiency created new economies and spurred prosperity for many American families, like those of Felicia Ford and Jack Spitza. 

Ford had built the assembly line, but he needed skilled trades and assembly workers to do it, and my family was part of that," said Felicia Ford, a high voltage applications engineer. My grandfather, he came up from Mississippi back in the 1920s and he started as a janitor and made it to a millwright.

She added, With that employment at Ford Motor Company and the $5 wage, he was able to raise a family of 14 children and be a middle-class family. That was unheard of back in the 20s and 30s for African-Americans.

And she's carrying on that family tradition.

Im trying to continue that," she said. I started in power-train, V6 and V8 engines. Gauging and tooling was my background. Cylinder blocks ... and now Im on electrified vehicles, which is electrified power-trains, so its a full circle.

Jack Spitza, assistant plant manager at the Dearborn Truck Plant, said he grew up in the heart of the auto industry.

I grew up middle-class right here in Detroit," said Spitza. Grew up hearing the stories around the dinner table of what it was to be a manufacturer, what it meant to the economy in Michigan, you know, and in the United States. So it was what I pursued as a career because of that.

"What is that kind of invention, that kind of engineering, that kind of ingenuity mean when it comes to the American story?" I asked.

Its really about great efficiency, waste elimination ... and we just get better at what we do every day," said Spitza.

I also asked about whats next, and they told me the world is changing and theyre working on changing with it. Theyre working on hybrid technology and energy storage technology, and guess what, the assembly line isnt going anywhere.

The Oakland County Board of Commissioners will be voting tonight on a controversial pilot drone program with the company Flock.

Watch Mike Duffy's video report: Flock drone pilot program spurs controversy in Oakland County

Its the same company known for its license plate reading camera system. The Oakland County sheriff tells me drones have been literally saving lives locally for the past four years, but opponents worry the potential new partnership could pose privacy and data concerns.

This isnt a new program. We understand the security and privacy concerns. Weve dealt with them. This is just trying a different piece of equipment, because our current piece of equipment we can no longer get," said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

Bouchard tells me thats because the federal government banned the importation and use of the Chinese-made drones currently in use.

Theres very few drone manufacturers in America that have the same capability and technology. And really, you know, the two top ones would be Flock and Skydio. So we actually are looking to pilot both of those and see which one better meets our needs," he said.

While these eyes in the sky promise speed and a whole new perspective, the public has a variety of opinions.

Well, I think its positive. Need to use the technology any way you possibly can as long as its for the best of the community," said Larry Gable, who lives in Bloomfield Hills.

I think it has its pros and its cons," said Ronita Coleman, who lives in Southfield. It allows law enforcement to take the initiatives that they need to sort of get ahead of an event.  At the same time, you have controversial issues where you can falsely identify someone." 

I also chatted with Taya, an Oakland County resident and self-described activist. She goes by the handle @debateher on Instagram and @debateherofficial on TikTok and has hundreds of thousands of followers across platforms.

Im working with a group of people who are going to be showing up at this meeting in strong opposition to what can only be described as an AI-powered surveillance state," said Taya.

They currently have a petition opposing Flock on Change.org.

Taya says shes deeply worried about the data Flock collects and the publics Fourth Amendment rights. 

I am not against law enforcement. I want my community to be safe. But unfortunately, the people who are in our current law enforcement will not be there forever, she said.

I asked Sheriff Bouchard about the storage and use of data by Flock.

We dont share it with third parties ... we wont be giving any of that. Ill be more clear to Flock. Or anybody else, unless theres a warrant or a specific case that its involved in," said Sheriff Bouchard.

He added, "This was drafted actually without our day-to-day involvement. So the current language we have in the Flock cameras, you know the LPRs, license plate readers, very specifically say its our data and no one can share. We want that same language in the drone contract, if one goes forward.

I also reached out to Flock. A spokesperson for the company issued a statement that says:

"Flocks Drone as a First Responder (DFR) program helps agencies respond to emergency calls more quickly and safely, with drones typically arriving on scene in about 90 seconds, often before officers. In practice, this allows departments to assess evolving incidents, track suspects without vehicle pursuits, search for missing persons, and provide real-time intelligence to improve decision-making."On data security: all video and flight data are encrypted in transit and at rest. Access is limited to authorized personnel at the Sheriffs Office, and all access is logged and auditable. Flock customers own all the data collected through the DFR system, including images, video, and metadata. Drone flight logs are publicly available via a dashboard designed to support transparency and accountability. Until a drone reaches the location of a call for service, its camera remains forward-facing to limit field of view and reduce potential privacy concerns."