1. What does Ford think of autonomous driving technology?
Kerry Zhang: In the long run, autonomous driving is a beautiful vision worth looking forward to. Ford has been engaged in the field of autonomous driving for many years, with deep technical reserves and professional solutions. However, to achieve fully automatic driving, it needs to be matched and improved at many levels, such as infrastructure, laws and regulations. Therefore, Ford, as a pragmatic century-old automobile brand, is not blindly pursuing a higher level of automatic driving function, but is really oriented to the real use scenarios of users. After a lot of rigorous real scene tests, it has polished a useful and easy-to-use driver assistance system for users, making travel safer, easier and more enjoyable. Latitude AI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford, will devote itself to developing new autonomous driving technology for Ford's next-generation models, reconstructing users' driving experience, and solving the fatigue and boring driving experience caused by urban traffic congestion and long-term high-speed driving through autonomous driving technology.
Second, as we all know, in 20 18, Ford launched the co-pilot 360 on a global scale. Zhixing driver assistance system, so what functions does the system include?
Zhang Kairui: Ford co-pilot 360? Zhixing driving assistance system is the general name of a series of intelligent driving assistance functions, which can be divided into four categories: easy driving, safe driving, worry-free parking and clear vision. Easy driving can help the driver to control the driving assistance functions of the vehicle, such as adaptive cruise, lane keeping and ramp starting assistance. Safe driving is a lot of driving assistance functions to help drivers avoid collisions and dangers, such as collision warning and emergency steering assistance. In addition, in view of the parking problems that many users generally face, we have also developed one-button parking assistance and other functions. At the same time, in order to let drivers better observe the road conditions and master the situation outside the car, we also provide users with panoramic images, automatic high beam and other functions. Since 20 19, most new models sold in China market are equipped with co-pilot 360? Zhixing driver assistance system.
Third, in 2020, Ford launched the BlueCruise blue smart drive, and the co-pilot 360? What is the relationship between Zhixing driver assistance system? BlueCruise, is blue smart driving automatic?
Zhang Kairui: Ford blue cruise 360 takes the co-pilot? On the basis of the intelligent adaptive cruise and lane keeping function of Zhixing driving assistance system, the blue intelligent driving map and GPS positioning system are further integrated, plus the hardware of 6 cameras, 5 high-performance millimeter-wave radars and 12 ultrasonic radars. Ford's self-developed advanced driver assistance system has a speed range of 0- 130 km/h in a specific road section covered by the blue intelligent driving map, but Ford BlueCruise is not fully autonomous and still needs the driver's attention to stay on the road. At the same time, according to China's traffic regulations, drivers can't keep their hands off the steering wheel for a long time.
Fourthly, in the rating of Consumer Report, Ford BlueCruise scored high in function and performance. How did Ford do this? What tests and optimizations did Ford BlueCruise Lanzhijia do for users in China market?
Zhang Kairui: We think it is a key point to make drivers have enough confidence to use the intelligent driver assistance system. Ford BlueCruise had accumulated about 65,438+065,438+10,000 kilometers of real road tests around the world before it was put into market, and it was developed and verified by Ford's self-developed automatic system virtual tool chain, which enabled engineers to test and optimize the driver assistance function in the virtual simulation environment, thus making it deeply integrated with vehicle design and hardware.
According to some special road conditions in China, Ford engineers have also done more than 80,000 kilometers of adaptability tests and optimization on the basis of global tests, and conducted a lot of simulation and real road tests on the expressway network in China. For example, the domestic expressway connecting roads are incorporated into the scene, and the vehicle response and timing are optimized when changing lanes to avoid continuous lane changes; In addition, there are perfect isolation facilities in the middle of most expressways in China. If the vehicle is driving in the leftmost lane and a large truck passes by in the adjacent lane on the right, the intelligent lane avoidance function will optimize the vehicle offset distance and avoid increasing the driver's pressure by approaching isolation. We will continue to upgrade through OTA to add new functions to Ford BlueCruise Blue Smart. At present, the lane-changing auxiliary function of the turn signal is available on Ford's all-new sharp L model. When the conditions are met, the system can realize the automatic lane change triggered by the steering wheel. There is also an intelligent lane avoidance function, which can make vehicles always drive safely in the selected lane. When there are vehicles in the adjacent lanes, especially when using large trailer trucks, it can automatically help vehicles to avoid skillfully, maintain a safe side distance, improve driving safety and make drivers feel more at ease when using the system.
Fifth, we can see that in the evaluation of Consumer Report, many driver assistance systems are not very good at maintaining the participation of drivers. In the actual experience, many users have encountered driving assistance functions such as lane keeping while driving. If they want to change lanes, they will feel that the vehicle is preventing the driver from taking over and "grabbing the steering wheel" when adjusting the steering wheel. There is a feeling that the vehicle is fighting against itself. How did Ford BlueCruise Blue Smart Drive win high scores in maintaining driver engagement?
Kerry Zhang: Ford BlueCruise Lanzhijia fully integrates the "man-machine driving" strategy into the user experience. We all know that L2 and L3 are both people and cars. So how to make a smooth and seamless switch between computer and human control, Ford brought some thoughts with his own unique algorithm, that is, to build a man-machine co-driving strategy, so that the driver can temporarily take over the vehicle to avoid obstacles, potholes or pedestrians on the road. In the process of the driver taking over, we skillfully use the self-developed algorithm to design the steering torque to be handed over more smoothly according to a certain slope curve, which makes people feel that the system is assisting the driver, not confronting the driver. When the driver corrects the steering, the automatic steering control can be restored seamlessly without reactivation. This man-machine co-driving feature enables the driver to directly control lane change and drive into adjacent lanes, and then the system can automatically resume control, which largely avoids the man-machine confrontation between the system and the driver to grab the steering wheel and further enhances the driver's confidence in Ford Blue Intelligent Driving.
6. Since Ford BlueCruise Blue Zhijia can control the steering wheel and throttle at the same time, why do drivers still need to focus on the road all the time? How does Ford BlueCruise Blue Smart Drive keep the driver's attention on the road?
Kerry Zhang: At present, the "automatic driving" of most mass production vehicles is still an assisted driving system, a system in which people are in the loop, which requires drivers to stay focused at all times and take over the vehicle in time when they encounter some situations outside the standard scene. If the driver's attention is not monitored, blindly turning on the advanced driver assistance function will bring greater security risks.
Ford BlueCruise blue intelligent driving is based on the fusion of perception system and blue intelligent driving map. Perceptual system is like human eyes, limited by vision, and there is no way to predict what is invisible. The blue intelligent driving map can make the system more accurately predict the attributes of the current and ahead roads, such as the attributes of the next road, the next node and the road section, and better predict and control the vehicles. Based on the blue intelligent driving map, this paper makes a comprehensive analysis of multiple factors such as road curvature radius and lane line to judge whether Ford's blue intelligent driving function can be realized in the current road section, which is also one of the necessary conditions for functional safety and clear safety area. At the same time, Ford BlueCruise Lanzhijia also monitors and tracks the driver's eye and head posture through the infrared camera in the car (even if the driver wears ordinary sunglasses). If the driver is identified as having distracted driving behavior, the system will gradually raise the warning level to remind the driver to pay attention to the road ahead. When the driver is unresponsive for a long time, the system can automatically keep the vehicle in the current lane and gradually slow down to the idling state of about 10 km/h, so as to ensure the driving safety to the greatest extent.
7. What is the future research and development focus of Latitude AI, Ford's newly established wholly-owned subsidiary? Can you expect Ford to introduce an active driver assistance system to make drivers more relaxed and free?
Kerry Zhang:Latitude AI will devote itself to developing new autonomous driving technology for Ford's next-generation models, with the goal of creating a new generation of driver assistance system, which will free drivers' hands without observing road conditions in the future. At present, Ford BlueCruise has accumulated more than 80 million kilometers of unarmed active driving assistance mileage. I believe that in the near future, everyone will be able to experience a new generation of driver assistance system introduced by Ford on the basis of BlueCruise, which can make drivers more relaxed and free while driving.
From co-pilot 360? Zhixing Driving Assists Four Scenes: Easy Driving, Safe Driving, Worry-free Parking, and Clear Vision, and then to the "Man-Machine Co-driving" of Ford Blue Smart Driving, and even a new generation of driving assistance system that can give drivers more free time in the future. Ford Motor Company is making it easier for users to use driver assistance technology through innovative technology, and bringing consumers a safer, more confident and more relaxed driving experience under the collaborative development and rigorous testing and verification of the global team, thus realizing the brand vision of "creating a better world, allowing everyone to travel freely and pursue their dreams".
This article comes from Liao Che, author Hao, and the copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author for any form of reprint. The content only represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with the car reform.