Ford rolls out new driver assist system

Ford Motor Company is rolling out a new driver-assist system that can reduce the severity of or even eliminate some frontal collisions involving vehicles and pedestrians. Pre-collision assist with pedestrian detection will debut as available technology on the 2015 Ford Mondeo on sale in Europe this year. It will then roll out to other Ford and Lincoln products around the world.
October 24, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

278 Ford Motor Company is rolling out a new driver-assist system that can reduce the severity of or even eliminate some frontal collisions involving vehicles and pedestrians. Pre-collision assist with pedestrian detection will debut as available technology on the 2015 Ford Mondeo on sale in Europe this year. It will then roll out to other Ford and Lincoln products around the world.

The system uses radar and camera technology to scan the roadway ahead and, if a collision risk with a vehicle or pedestrian is detected, provides a warning to the driver. If the driver does not respond in time, the system can automatically apply up to full braking force to help reduce the severity of or even eliminate some frontal collisions.

According to Ford, pre-collision assist may help drivers avoid rear end collisions with other vehicles at all speeds, while pedestrian detection can help the driver avoid pedestrians at lower speeds and both may reduce the severity of forward collisions or even prevent certain forward collisions.

“This technology adds to the already impressive list of driver-assist technologies Ford customers benefit from today,” said Raj Nair, Ford group vice president, Global Product Development.

Ford warns that, while the new system may be especially helpful in unexpected situations, it does not replace the driver and has limitations including night, low and harsh lighting conditions, vehicles moving in a different direction and certain weather conditions.

Ford engineers tested the system on closed test tracks using rigs fitted with manikins to replicate pedestrians. They then spent months refining the technology on roads around the world to test system reliability.

“This real-world testing was an important part of the development, because pedestrians in an urban setting can present a wide range of potential situations,” said Scott Lindstrom, Ford manager, Driver Assist Technologies. “We covered more than 300,000 miles on three continents that included a wide range of settings and situations.”

Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Ford, MIT project measures pedestrian traffic, predict demand for electric shuttles
    July 28, 2016
    Ford Motor Company and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are collaborating on a new research project that measures how pedestrians move in urban areas to improve certain public transportation services, such as ride-hailing and point-to-point shuttles services. The project will introduce a fleet of on-demand electric vehicle shuttles that operate on both city roads and campus walkways on the university’s campus. The vehicles use LiDAR sensors and cameras to measure pedestrian flow, which ultimate
    Read More
  • Idris paves the way for loop based speed enforcement
    February 1, 2012
    With the Idris system now validated as a speed verification tool, the way is open for loops to be used in more complex enforcement applications. Diamond Consulting Services (DCS), developer of the Idris inductive loop-based vehicle detection and classification system, has recently successfully conducted validation trials which, the company says, open the way for Idris to be used for speed verification and loop-based sensors to be used for more complex applications such as speed-on-green and differential spe
    Read More
  • Wavetronix radar-based traffic sensor cuts costs
    May 30, 2013
    While initial cost of radar based detection may be higher than that traditional loops, lower maintenance costs more than balance the books. Following successful field tests, the US city of Greenville, North Carolina, has recently agreed a new policy of phasing in Wavetronix traffic sensor technology’s radar-based SmartSensor Matrix system across its signalised traffic intersections. City traffic engineer Rik DiCesare expects the incremental implementation to deliver benefits to both the city’s taxpayers an
    Read More
  • Latest A9 speed camera report ‘shows improvement in driver behaviour’
    July 28, 2015
    The latest performance data for A9 speed camera system has been published by Transport Scotland on behalf of the A9 Safety Group, covering the period May 2015 to July 2015 (incidents are quarter two April to June) as an overall assessment of the performance of the route. The report incorporates the first information in relation to collision and casualty figures covering the period from October 2014 to March 2015, which are reported against the average of the equivalent months in the preceding three year
    Read More

Highlighted Content