2018 Ford F-150 and Mustang Will Be Able to See and Brake for Pedestrians in the Dark
Ford has announced it is introducing new technology that can detect pedestrians at night and then automatically brake if a driver doesn’t heed initial audible and visual warnings. The system will be introduced in the next-generation Ford Fiesta in Europe later this year. It will make its North American debut in the 2018 Ford F-150 and 2018 Ford Mustang.
The nighttime pedestrian-detection system uses radar in the vehicle’s bumper and a camera mounted in the windshield that takes 30 snapshots every second. The system has a database of “pedestrian shapes” that helps it to distinguish jaywalkers from other objects, such as trees and street signs. A live video feed picks out pedestrians “even in low-light conditions,” the company said.
In developing the system, Ford said an engineering team sent life-size dummies into the path of oncoming vehicles on closed tracks at night. The team also tested the system on public roads in busy cities such as Paris and Amsterdam.
Currently, automated emergency braking (AEB) is not standard on most vehicles, let alone with nighttime pedestrian detection, and automakers’ systems are somewhat varied in the way they function. Honda began developing a night-vision system in 2004 that used two infrared cameras under a car’s headlights to detect heat-emitting objects-such as people-and then would give audible and visual warnings, Automotive News reported at the time. Cadillac had a similar system in its DeVille sedan in the early 2000s.
More recently, Mazda‘s i-Activsense system in the Mazda 6 added the capability to detect pedestrians moving into the car’s path at city speeds. Volvo has a radar-and-sensor setup that detects pedestrians at city speeds, and the automaker has studied kangaroos in Australia to see how the technology could be applied to animals hopping in front of vehicles on fast-moving highways. Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reached a voluntary agreement with 20 automakers to make AEB standard by 2022. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has estimated that making AEB a standard feature could prevent as many as 28,000 crashes and 12,000 injuries within three years of its implementation.
But consumer advocates have voiced concern about NHTSA’s agreement with automakers, in part because it was voluntary. The Center for Auto Safety, Consumer Watchdog, and former NHTSA administrator Joan Claybrook have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to push regulators toward formal rulemaking. Source by caranddriver website.
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