Ford Demonstrates The Future Of Car-To-Car Communication

Ford believes that “talking cars” that can communicate with each other will be essential to highlight hazards to other motorists and improve safety. The Blue Oval’s innovative technology that enables this communication was recently demonstrated in Europe, where the automaker illustrated advantages to this technology beyond safety, including improving traffic flow and reducing CO2 emissions.

The goal of this innovative research project is to develop the systems and infrastructure that would allow vehicles to update each other with hazard, driving condition, and traffic information. Using localized radio frequencies and the latest mobile phone network technology, Ford’s vehicle-to-vehicle communication system allows individual cars to broadcast messages to other vehicles.

During the demonstration, Ford used two S-MAX vehicles to show how vehicle could “talk” to each other. When one S-MAX began to brake hard, it triggered an emergency signal that was subsequently displayed inside the following S-MAX within less than 100 milliseconds.

Many Ford vehicles are already available with a range of technologies that are designed to detect various inputs from the driving environment and automatically assist the driver, including Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keeping Aid, Active City Stop, Driver Alert, Adaptive Cruise Control and Traffic Sign Recognition. However, vehicle-to-vehicle communication will be able to detect hazards that are well beyond the driver’s field of vision.

“The notion of talking cars may immediately bring to mind thoughts of children’s movies, but the reality is that vehicles capable of speaking the same language could result in significant safety and convenience benefits for drivers,” says Christian Ress, connectivity technical expert, global driver assistance and active safety.

Article Source: www.fordinthenews.com