Ford’s latest autonomous vehicle research
program involves a fleet of Fusion Hybrids and partnerships with major
universities. The goal is to help advance its Blueprint for Mobility, which
envisages a future of autonomous functionality and advanced technologies after
2025.
“We
see a future of connected cars that communicate with each other and the world
around them to make driving safer, ease traffic congestion and sustain the
environment,” said Ford Chairman Bill Ford.
Autonomous driving might not excite
enthusiastic drivers, but there’s little doubt that the concept could provide a
range of benefits, from reduced emissions, to better traffic flows, fewer
accidents and lower insurance costs.
Ford has a long history of autonomous
vehicle research that includes participating in the DARPA Grand Challenge and
the development of a self-driving F-250 pickup truck. Now it is working with a
fleet of Fusion Hybrids and three major universities – the University of Michigan,
Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology – to develop the
next generation of autonomous technology, as well as with the State Farm
company to research and understand the risks involved in fully automated
driving as well as to explore issues and implications regarding liability.
The Fusions have a stock powertrain and, at
a general level, the idea this time around has been to retain as much standard
hardware as possible in order to develop a more production-like vehicle. “We
purposely picked the Fusion because it has our latest electrical architecture
and the capability for by-wire technology,” explains Chris Attard, active
safety engineer, Ford Research & Innovation. “What we’ve tried to do is
work with our suppliers to use the production [electronic control] modules to
do some of the actuation. A lot of companies [in this field] have been doing
‘hardware hacks’ – tricking sensors, for example – and on the F-250 that we
had, we put another DC motor in and chain-drove the steering column. But now
we’re working with suppliers and internally at Ford to get into some of the
modules, rewrite software and make it so it’s more adaptable to doing by-wire
[operations].”
“To
deliver on our vision for the future of mobility, we need to work with many new
partners across the public and private sectors, and we need to start today,”
said Paul Mascarenas, chief technical officer and Vice President, Ford research
and innovation.
The Fusion’s standard electric power
steering (EPS) takes care of direction changes. Some of the powertrain control
software – most of which is owned by Ford – is being rewritten to accommodate
autonomous operation. The Fusion’s standard adaptive cruise control (ACC) is
key to handling throttle and brake inputs: “There’s a throttle-pedal position
sensor that sends a signal to the powertrain. One way of doing the control
would be to emulate the pedal; we’ve opted not to do that and have an ACC-like
interface instead,” says Attard. “The goal was, as we move toward implementing more
features like this, and with production in mind, to do things more cleanly,
within a module.
“We haven’t worked much with our brake
supplier on this vehicle,” he adds. “We use the ACC system and [issue] very
high-level brake commands – the car is still taking care of all the arbitration
for regeneration-versus friction calibration. That simplifies things and
enables us to take advantage of the hybrid system.”
Some of the cars in Ford’s six-strong
Fusion research fleet have had their high-voltage systems modified to add
auxiliary power in the trunk for laptops and some of the other,
research-specific equipment.
Unlike
other Hybrids on the road these days, Ford has not hesitated to go for style
points. With colors like ice storm and ruby red, there is sure to be a stylish
exterior to suit even the most colorful personalities.
“We’ve added another DC/DC converter under
the hood and an auxiliary battery in the back so that we can tap off more of
that high-voltage battery pack,” Attard confirms. “Some vehicles will need it
if we’re going to do more computing or if we’re going to add more accessories.”
Academic Additions
Ford recently added two further
universities to the list of collaborators on its autonomous driving research,
which already featured the University of Michigan. While the research vehicle
can sense objects around it using the lidar sensors, Ford’s research with
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) uses advanced algorithms to help
the vehicle learn to predict where moving vehicles and pedestrians could be in
the future. This scenario planning provides the vehicle with a better sense of
the surrounding risks, enabling it to plan a path that will safely avoid
pedestrians, vehicles and other moving objects.
