The transition of the automotive industry to electric vehicles and driver assistance technologies go hand in hand. Following these trends, Ford has chosen to use its Mach-E all-electric SUV as the first vehicle to feature Ford Co-Pilot 360 2.0 technology. The main innovation is the use of a driver-oriented camera to improve safety.
Mustang Mach-E drivers will be able to purchase Active Drive Assist equipment when purchasing a vehicle. This is part of a preparation package that will allow Mach-E owners to fully activate the new ADAS features in the third quarter of 2021 via an over-the-air update or at a Ford dealership.
The main benefit of the new package is hands-free driving. However, it will only work on about 100 miles (000 kilometers) of divided highways in North America for now. In a press release, Ford made it clear:
“Hands-free driving will allow drivers on certain stretches of predetermined divided highways to drive without their hands on the steering wheel, as long as they keep their eyes on the road in front of them: this will provide them with an additional level of comfort during long journeys.
Advanced driver-facing infrared camera monitors gaze and head position so the system knows drivers keep their attention on the road in hands-free driving mode and lane following mode, which works on any road with lane dividing lines . Drivers will be notified by visual cues on their dashboard when they need to resume manual vehicle control.”
Ford has named two more enhancements that come standard with the Mach-E Co-Pilot 360 2.0: Road Edge Detection and Blind Spot Assist. Roadside detection can improve the perception of lane edges and warn the driver if the vehicle begins to skid. Blind Spot Assist detects light on the side view mirror and nudges the steering wheel to the side as needed.
In general, the autopilot is similar to the SuperCruise from General Motors, which was introduced to the market two years ago - Ford is lagging behind. The only new feature is a driver-facing camera that is added to the existing dash camera, front radar and corner radars. By the way, some drivers find that using SuperCruise on many roads can simply be annoying: sometimes the sections available for the autopilot are too short, and frequent switching between normal driving and automatic is uncomfortable.
Ford's new system doesn't look exciting; the company is taking a conservative approach. Ford ADAS account manager Chris Billman had this to say in a veiled critique of Tesla's Autopilot system: “We carefully name our features. By making them intuitive, we don't exaggerate or imply that the features are capable of more than advertised."
Ford even compared its Co-Pilot to the Tesla AutoPilot earlier, pointing out a number of missing features in the latter (however, the company did not mention Tesla's traffic light recognition and some other advantages of the competitor):
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Source: 3dnews.ru