Ford has been developing its autonomous technology over the last three years. The new generation of the self-driving tech will take the stage at the 2017 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in January, followed by the Detroit Motor Show.
The American manufacturer claims that the new-generation system is more compact, precise and can cover a larger area due to clever use of the LiDar systems. The number of LiDar sensors are reduced to two instead of four as in the older system but are now backed with more processing-power computer hardware and thanks to the strategic positioning of it, to give a better and targeted field of vision than before. The sensors and cameras are now packed into what looks like a pair of roof railing and rear view mirror. The roof rails incorporate three cameras, there is one more camera on the windshield and then there are radars as well. All these feed the data to a powerful computer placed in the boot of the vehicle. This computer can process one terabyte of data in an hour.
The new generation self-driving tech now incorporates two main elements – the vehicle platform, which is now the new generation Fusion, and the virtual driver system. The virtual driver system is made up of sensors (LiDar, cameras and radar), algorithms for localisation and path planning, computer vision and machine learning, a detailed 3D road maps, and a capable computational and electronic gadgetries.
This is the next step in Ford’s plans to make available a fully autonomous vehicle by 2021 for ride-sharing and ride-hailing services.
