FORD

Brand offers limited autopilot mode Mustang Mach-E

The automotive industry is transitioning to electric cars and driver assistance technologies go hand in hand. Following these trends, Ford decided to use its all-electric Mach-E SUV as the first car with Ford Co-Pilot 360 2.0 technology. The main innovation is the use of a driver-oriented camera to increase safety.
Mustang Mach-E drivers will be able to purchase Active Drive Assist equipment (an active driver assistance system) when purchasing a car. This is part of a preparatory package that will allow Mach-E owners to fully activate the new features of ADAS through a wireless upgrade or at a Ford dealership in the third quarter of 2021.
The main advantage of the new package is hands-free driving. However, it will only operate on approximately 160,000 kilometers of the North American split road. In a press release, Ford clarified:
“The hands-free driving mode will allow drivers to drive on certain predefined divided road sections without touching the steering wheel with their hands, as long as they continue to monitor the road in front of them: this will provide an additional level of comfort during long journeys.
An advanced infrared camera aimed at the driver monitors the look and position of the head, so that the system understands that drivers continue to pay attention to the road in hands-free driving mode, as well as in the lane mode, which works on any road with strip separation lines. . Drivers will be notified by visual warnings on the control panel when they need to resume manual control of the vehicle. "



Ford named two more improvements that come standard on the Mach-E Co-Pilot 360 2.0 - Roadside Detection and Blind Spot Assistance. Road detection can improve the perception of the edges of the road and warn the driver if the car starts to skid. The Blind Spot Assistant function detects light in the side mirror and pushes the steering wheel as needed.
In general, the autopilot is similar to the General Motors SuperCruise, launched two years ago - Ford is late. The only innovation is the driver-oriented camera, which is added to the existing camera on the front panel, front radar and corner radars. By the way, some drivers believe that using SuperCruise on many roads can be just plain annoying: sometimes the sections available for autopilot are very short and the frequent switch between normal driving and automation is uncomfortable.
The new Ford system doesn't look exciting: the company takes a conservative approach. Chris Billman, account manager at Ford ADAS, said in veiled criticism of Tesla's autopilot system: “We carefully select names for our roles. By making them intuitive, we are not exaggerating or suggesting that functions are capable of more than what is stated. "
Ford even compared its Co-Pilot to the Tesla AutoPilot earlier, pointing out a number of features missing in the latter (however, the company did not mention Tesla's traffic light recognition and some other competitors' advantages):



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