Ford Motor Company is testing two new technologies for driverless cars- the Fully Assisted Parking Aid and Obstacle Avoidance.
The American automaker plans to match up with its competitors by introducing two innovations making driverless cars possible—the technology of allowing the car to park on its own and another one that will have the steering wheel automatically turn when it detects a movement to avoid hitting anyone.
The tests were conducted in Belgium. However, there was no announcement if the new product will be launched there or anywhere.
Though Ford cars such as Ford Focus, Explorer, Escape, Flex and Lincoln are already equipped with the Active Park Assist feature, it need drivers to steer the wheel and step on the brake pads. With Ford’s first driverless car, parallel parking can be done perfectly in just a push of the button commanding the car park on its own. The Fully Assisted Parking Aid can be greatly profitable in Europe, where parking is not easy to get.
Ford Europe Vice President Barb Samardzich said in a press release, “Parking in today's cities can be stressful and difficult. We want to make it as easy, efficient and accurate as possible.”
The Obstacle Avoidance technology that allows cars to automatically brake upon detection of a close pedestrian ahead of them is becoming increasingly usual. However, it just puts the cars to a stop. With Ford’s second innovation, it can not only brake cars, it can also steer the wheels away the pedestrian.
Ford claims, "Obstacle avoidance" technology initially warns if it detects sluggish objects, motionless blockage or people ahead of the car. In the case wherein the driver fails to do anything after those warnings the car’s system will then robotically steer and brake to avoid a collision.
To make all these things possible, this new automobile system utilizes three radars, ultrasonic sensors and a camera.
