jpd80 Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 (edited) June 22, 2017 @ 3:13 pm Richard Truett At the University of Michigan's Mcity proving grounds for autonomous cars, Ford engineers on Wednesday rolled out a fleet of self-driving Fusions and let reporters ride in the backseat. The cars successfully piloted themselves around the faux city landscape, top speed around 25 mph. The cars correctly read stop lights, negotiated turns, identified pedestrians -- real ones, not dummies -- and cyclists in the road, and interacted without drama. More than that, the cars drove themselves smoothly. But there is still a long road ahead before Ford's, or anyone else's self-driving cars, are ready to pilot themselves on public streets. For one thing, high-definition mapping of the nation's roads, which can overcome some of the country's infrastructure issues, is not nearly complete enough. Full article at Autonews.com........... Now the chase is on for high definition mapping but I think that a lot more controls and inputs are going to be needed in the real world. Things like active monitoring at every intersection so real time info gets fed to self-drive cars regarding conditions, traffic and pedestrians To me, the biggest hurdle in all of this will be convincing most of the population to get into the back seat of a driver-less car and trust the tech. It may in fact be and remain a huge impasse for a lot of people and one that no amount of high tech gadgetry can overcome.... Edited June 23, 2017 by jpd80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 To me, the biggest hurdle in all of this will be convincing most of the population to get into the back seat of a driver-less car and trust the tech. It may in fact be and remain a huge impasse for a lot of people and one that no amount of high tech gadgetry can overcome.... That is exactly the biggest problem with this tech...people don't trust it. I don't have a problem getting a car that will drive itself on a highway, as long as I can still take over. Would be a huge help with driver fatigue over long distances with lots of traffic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbone Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 Heck, I'm reluctant to let my adaptive cruise do its business, let alone have the car take over all of the control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 Heck, I'm reluctant to let my adaptive cruise do its business, let alone have the car take over all of the control. I've used Ford's system plenty of times on the highway, and it's great not having to manually vary the cruise control speed every time you come up to a slow driver or when traffic slows. My biggest dislike of the system is that there's a "hard" line (distance) at which it detects a car and if you're coming up quickly to them or switch lanes then it detects them, it brakes excessively to get back to that set distance rather than gradually slowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbone Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 I've used Ford's system plenty of times on the highway, and it's great not having to manually vary the cruise control speed every time you come up to a slow driver or when traffic slows. My biggest dislike of the system is that there's a "hard" line (distance) at which it detects a car and if you're coming up quickly to them or switch lanes then it detects them, it brakes excessively to get back to that set distance rather than gradually slowing. Yes, I agree that it has some nice capability, but like you, I hate that hard braking. It needs to use the space available to bring the speed down to an appropriate level, and then reset to the defined interval. Our Infiniti system does the same so that issue isn't limited to Ford. I'm slowly trying to accept giving up that control, but it isn't easy for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 I've used Ford's system plenty of times on the highway, and it's great not having to manually vary the cruise control speed every time you come up to a slow driver or when traffic slows. My biggest dislike of the system is that there's a "hard" line (distance) at which it detects a car and if you're coming up quickly to them or switch lanes then it detects them, it brakes excessively to get back to that set distance rather than gradually slowing. It's really exciting when you go from one car that has it (my Fusion for the last 4 years) to one that doesn't (MKX for the last year). The only part I don't really like is that it takes too long to start accelerating when you pull out from behind a slower vehicle. I understand the sensor limitations but I think it could be smarter and anticipate the lane change especially if you're using your blinker. Not a big deal as you can accelerate manually. The other issue is getting behind a slower vehicle and gradually slowing down where you don't realize you're going slower than your set speed. I had it set on 70 and ended up following another vehicle doing 65 for several miles. Not a system problem though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbone Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 It's really exciting when you go from one car that has it (my Fusion for the last 4 years) to one that doesn't (MKX for the last year). The only part I don't really like is that it takes too long to start accelerating when you pull out from behind a slower vehicle. I understand the sensor limitations but I think it could be smarter and anticipate the lane change especially if you're using your blinker. Not a big deal as you can accelerate manually. The other issue is getting behind a slower vehicle and gradually slowing down where you don't realize you're going slower than your set speed. I had it set on 70 and ended up following another vehicle doing 65 for several miles. Not a system problem though. I have had these same experiences as well. As these systems evolve I'm sure they will improve but these hard line elements are kind of annoying. It's funny how you don't realize your speed as you mentioned, and if you have a large interval set the car in front of you that is going slow doesn't feel any pressure to get out of the way. That's not really a knock on the system, that's just me not paying attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted June 23, 2017 Share Posted June 23, 2017 It's really exciting when you go from one car that has it (my Fusion for the last 4 years) to one that doesn't (MKX for the last year). The only part I don't really like is that it takes too long to start accelerating when you pull out from behind a slower vehicle. I understand the sensor limitations but I think it could be smarter and anticipate the lane change especially if you're using your blinker. Not a big deal as you can accelerate manually. The other issue is getting behind a slower vehicle and gradually slowing down where you don't realize you're going slower than your set speed. I had it set on 70 and ended up following another vehicle doing 65 for several miles. Not a system problem though. Yup, I agree with these comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted June 24, 2017 Author Share Posted June 24, 2017 It's really exciting when you go from one car that has it (my Fusion for the last 4 years) to one that doesn't (MKX for the last year). I remember my first trip to the US in '93, hired a Chevy Corsica and discovered that when I touched the brakes, the V6 would kick down and nearly drove me into the back of a Tacoma... wasn't that existing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 24, 2017 Share Posted June 24, 2017 Corsica was my favorite rental car back then. That's not saying much though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fordmantpw Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 (edited) It's really exciting when you go from one car that has it (my Fusion for the last 4 years) to one that doesn't (MKX for the last year). The only part I don't really like is that it takes too long to start accelerating when you pull out from behind a slower vehicle. I understand the sensor limitations but I think it could be smarter and anticipate the lane change especially if you're using your blinker. Not a big deal as you can accelerate manually. The other issue is getting behind a slower vehicle and gradually slowing down where you don't realize you're going slower than your set speed. I had it set on 70 and ended up following another vehicle doing 65 for several miles. Not a system problem though. I almost forget I have to drive when I go from my Super Duty to the Flex. I mean, I have to turn the headlights and wipers on, I have to pay attention to stay in my lane, I have to slow down for the car in front of me. Sheesh! My F350 accelerates just fine when hitting the blinker and pulling out from behind another car. As soon as I hit the blinker, it starts accelerating, even if I haven't changed lanes yet. Guess they've enhanced it a bit in the last few years. Of course, I'm driving a vehicle built to tow 20k+ lbs., so maybe that's part of the acceleration thing... Edited June 26, 2017 by fordmantpw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoonerLS Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 I almost forget I have to drive when I go from my Super Duty to the Flex. I mean, I have to turn the headlights and wipers on, I have to pay attention to stay in my lane, I have to slow down for the car in front of me. Sheesh! Yeah, even if you put a bull bar on a Flex, it just doesn't have the oomph to shove minivans out of the way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fordmantpw Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 Yeah, even if you put a bull bar on a Flex, it just doesn't have the oomph to shove minivans out of the way. I knew we should have waited for the EcoBoost version! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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