No Lights? No Problem! Ford Fusion Autonomous Research Vehicles Use LiDAR Sensor Technology to See in the Dark
Recently, under the cover of night, a Ford Fusion Hybrid self-governing research vehicle without any headlights on browsed along lonesome desert roadways, carrying out a job that would be risky for a human motorist.
Driving in pitch black at Ford Arizona Proving Ground marks the next step on the business's journey to delivering fully autonomous vehicles to clients around the world. It's a vital advancement, because it shows that even without video cameras, which depend on light, Ford's LiDAR-- working with the automobile's virtual motorist software application-- is robust enough to guide flawlessly around winding roads. While it's perfect to have all three modes of sensing units-- radar, cameras and LiDAR-- the latter can work separately on road without stoplights.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration information has found the passenger vehicle resident death rate throughout dark hours to be about 3 times higher than the daytime rate.
"Thanks to LiDAR, the test vehicles aren't reliant on the sun shining, nor video cameras discovering painted white lines on the asphalt," says Jim McBride, Ford technical leader for autonomous automobiles. "In reality, LiDAR permits autonomous vehicles to drive just as well in the dark as they perform in the light of day.".
To navigate in the dark, Ford self-driving automobiles utilize high-resolution 3D maps-- total with details about the road, road markings,geography, topography and landmarks like signs, buildings and trees. The vehicle utilizes LiDAR pulses to pinpoint itself on the map in real time. Extra information from radar gets merged with that of LiDAR to finish the complete sensing ability of the autonomous car.
For the desert test, Ford engineers, sporting night-vision goggles, monitored the Fusion from inside and outside the automobile. Night vision permitted them to see the LiDAR doing its job through a grid of infrared laser beams forecasted around the car as it drove past. LiDAR sensing units shoot out 2.8 million laser pulses a second to specifically scan the surrounding environment.
Inside the car, I could feel it moving, but when I looked out the window, I only saw darkness, describes Wayne Williams, a Ford research scientist and engineer. As I rode in the back seat, I was following the cars progression in real time using computer monitoring. Sure enough, it stayed precisely on track along those winding roads.
After more than a decade of Ford autonomous automobile research, the company is committed to achieving totally autonomous driving ability, which, as defined by SAE International Level 4, does not require the driver to intervene and take control of the vehicle.
This year, Ford will triple its self-governing automobile test fleet-- bringing the number to about 30 self-driving Fusion Hybrid sedans for testing on roads in California, Arizona and Michigan.
These advancements are key elements of Ford Smart Mobility, the strategy to take Ford to the next level in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience, and data and analytics.
