After a 10-minute ride in the back seat of a self-driving Ford Fusion hybrid on a loop around the company’s Dearborn research campus, I felt safer than if I had driven myself.
This was the opposite of my ride with NASCAR legend Bill Elliott at Road Atlanta back in the 1990s.
“We follow the speed limit (in this case 25 miles per hour). We drive by the letter of the law,” said Schuyler Cohn, one of two Ford autonomous vehicle engineers who served as my fellow passengers. “We’re going to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, maybe a little longer than most people would.”
Still it’s easy to spot them from the outside. They all carry a contraption that looks a little like a bike carrier on the roof. Within that device are mounted four rapidly rotating cylinders about the size of a 20-ounce aluminum soft drink can. Those are the lidar modules that emit light beams at a staggering speed to capture every detail of the environment within about 100 meters of the vehicle.
If you’re seeking a “Fast and Furious” experience, this technology isn’t for you.
But Ford has sufficiently refined its small fleet of self-driving Fusion hybrids to allow an international media group to test it on a specific route. The automaker has pledged to deliver a fully autonomous vehicle — no steering wheel, gas or brake pedal — to a ride-sharing service by 2021.
As Ford and other automakers admit, this technology is aimed at a very different pool of customers than those who have bought five generations of Mustangs or placed the earliest order for the GT ultra sports car.
“Why are we doing this? Consumer attitudes and their priorities regarding vehicles and transportation are changing, ” said Ford CEO Mark Fields. “The world has moved from owning vehicles to owning and sharing them. This is driving us to reconsider our entire business model.”
The self-driving Fusions still have steering wheWhile the technology can “teach” the vehicle to stay within lane lines, stop at traffic lights and stop lights and detect pedestrians, bicycles and even pets or other animals, it can’t yet recognize the hand waves, head nods and other interpersonal nonverbal communication that drivers use to avoid fender benders at intersections. At least not yet.els, gas and brake pedals. Ford engineer Jakob Hoellerbauer sat behind the wheel and could have taken control if needed.
Still it’s easy to spot them from the outside. They all carry a contraption that looks a little like a bike carrier on the roof. Within that device are mounted four rapidly rotating cylinders about the size of a 20-ounce aluminum soft drink can. Those are the lidar modules that emit light beams at a staggering speed to capture every detail of the environment within about 100 meters of the vehicle.
That landscape has already been mapped in three dimensions down to a 1-centimeter definition of each stop sign, parked car or curb.
Read more of the original article at The Detroit Free Press.
The post A Safe, VERY Safe Ride in a Self-Driving Ford Fusion appeared first on Fleet Management Weekly.
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