Since Ford officially announced in 213 that it is studying the hybrid version of Fusion autonomous driving technology, the company has never stopped to realize commercial driverless cars. Recently, Ford launched its partnership with its partner Argo? The latest generation of self-driving test vehicle jointly developed by AI, namely the fourth generation of self-driving test vehicle, hopes to launch the self-driving commercialization business based on the Escape hybrid vehicle in 222. So, how has Ford's self-driving cars advanced in the past seven years?
Ford self-driving test car (image source: Ford)
First generation: Ford Fusion self-driving car
Sensor kit: 4 Velodyne lidar sensors are used, which can scan 2.5 million times per second. The system can scan vehicles within 2 feet and draw real-time 3D maps. It is also equipped with a front camera, radar and ultrasonic sensor, and the relevant data can be used to keep a safe relative distance between vehicles. Among the four lidar sensors, two are upright to monitor the whole periphery of the car body, and two are inclined to both sides of the car body to monitor and cover the visual blind area near the car body.
autonomous driving technology: this hybrid vehicle has become a test platform for Ford's autonomous driving technology. At present, some technologies have been adopted, which can be used for autonomous driving, such as automatic parking system, lane departure warning system and adaptive cruise system.
the second generation: Ford Fusion self-driving car
compared with the mass production model, the second generation test car is equipped with new on-board computing software, so the processing capacity is greatly improved, and its lidar sensor is also improved, which can give the car a better view.
sensor kit: the original abrupt four radars were reduced to two and rearranged, and moved from the roof to the A-pillar part of the vehicle, thus reducing the waste of resources and upgrading the performance. The measuring distance of the new radar has tripled compared with the previous generation, reaching 6 feet. Three optical cameras are installed on the roof bracket and a front camera is installed behind the windshield. The vehicle is also equipped with short-range and long-range radars to improve the images seen by the vehicle, which is responsible for assisting the lidar to identify obstacles and traffic lights.
Computation: The redesigned autopilot software includes algorithms such as positioning, path planning, computer vision and machine learning, and at the same time, it is necessary to draw high-precision maps necessary for autopilot. This puts a high demand on the computing power of the car, so Ford specially placed an on-board computer dedicated to autonomous driving and a converter dedicated to it in the trunk of the new model. This built-in supercomputer can generate trillions of bytes of data every hour. However, a second power converter is needed to achieve this virtual processing capability, so hybrid vehicles are needed, because the standard gasoline-powered vehicles do not have enough energy to achieve automatic driving at present.
the third generation: Ford Fusion self-driving car
the third generation Ford self-driving test car is equipped with Ford and Argo? An upgraded virtual driving system jointly developed by AI; Compared with the previous two generations of test vehicles, it is closer to the production version and can cope with more complicated road conditions.
sensor group: in addition to the new radar, the camera of Ford's third-generation self-driving test car has also been upgraded, with higher resolution and higher dynamic range. In previous cameras, distant objects may be only 1 to 2 pixels and cannot be identified. Under the higher resolution camera, these objects can have more details, and after the software upgrade, it helps vehicles to see and identify distant objects more easily.
brand-new computing system: Ford's third-generation self-driving test vehicle is equipped with a brand-new computing system, which greatly enhances the computing power compared with the previous vehicles. Also enhanced is the thermal management system, which can help reduce the heat released by the computing system with less noise. Now the vehicle is not only smarter, but also more comfortable in the interior.
safety redundancy system: in order to ensure the safety of the vehicle in case of emergency, Ford's third-generation self-driving test vehicle has redundant braking and steering system, which can control the vehicle in time when a unit stops working for some reason. Redundant systems can better ensure the safety of self-driving vehicles and give them the ability to detect faults and pull over safely in time.
fourth generation: Ford Escape hybrid vehicle
sensor kit: Ford upgraded the sensor kit to include more advanced lidar, higher resolution camera and more powerful radar sensor. The new long-range lidar has higher resolution, 128 channels for sensing, and can provide a 36-degree field of view; A near-field camera and a short-range laser radar have been added, mainly facing the front of the road and the side of the vehicle. At the same time, another camera is integrated into the rear view sensor assembly to track the situation behind the vehicle. Improve the ability of the Escape test vehicle to detect static and moving objects around the vehicle, eliminate blind spots, and detect passing cars or cyclists on nearby bicycle lanes.
improving the sensor cleaning system: a hidden pressure cleaning room is developed, which surrounds the camera lens and the lidar sensor to ensure that the camera and the sensor have clear vision, and the cleaning room can clean 36 degrees; The numb and coverage area of cleaning nozzle are increased, that liquid cleaning capacity is improved, the pressure is increase, and the cleaning speed is accelerated; Extended to new near-field cameras and lidar sensors; The hydrophobic coating is improved, which makes the equipment of the latest test car better.
This article comes from the author of Chejia, car home, and does not represent car home's standpoint.