Ford continues its development program for autonomous vehicles, and the next-generation of the system will be publicly unveiled at next year’s Detroit Motor Show.
The Blue Oval has continued to use the Fusion Hybrid as the platform for its self-driving car. According to Ford, the system has received improvements on its virtual driver system, but also on the mechanical parts that make it tick. Except for the Fusion Hybrid itself, every extra element seems to have been enhanced.
Specifically, Ford now has electrical controls for the entire self-driving system that are described as closer to production-ready, and the sensors have been adjusted and placed in a way that makes them more efficient.
The LIDAR sensors of this vehicle have a sleeker design, and their field of vision is better targeted. Thanks to the subsequent modification, Ford can only use two sensors for the same job instead of four in the previous configuration, without missing out on data.
The Blue Oval’s engineering department has also improved the computing power of its self-driving system. Its role is to perform tasks just like a human driver, without any mistakes or additional corrections. In the future, the technology is projected to exceed human ability in all scenarios.
Ford says that the new developments are visibly moving it closer to the SAE Level 4-capable autonomous vehicle, which it plans to launch by 2021. The said model is supposed to be offered in high-volumes on the market. Those cars will be used for ride-sharing applications, which will be provided by Ford through a dedicated platform.
As we previously explained, the SAE Level 4 of autonomy means that an automobile can drive itself, but it has a human in front of the steering wheel at all times. The said human acts as a supervisor that does not have to intervene, because the “fallback performance of dynamic driving task” is the system, not the person. In other words, the human does not have to do more than input the destination while the vehicle is operating.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News