“Never gonna happen” just got a lot closer. According to Ford the self-driving car will be here within five years, using technologies available today.
The smart car will take over your morning commute on clogged freeways, improving your speed and reducing fuel consumption. The technology concept, known as Traffic Jam Assist, uses adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, and the sensors from its active park assist.
The University of Michigan’s robotics and automation research team is working on the sensors, and State Farm is helping Ford figure out if driver-assist systems can help cut down on the number of rear-end collisions.
Ford’s 2013 Fusion already offers adaptive cruise control, which can bring the car to a full stop, and a lane-keeping system that steers the car back into its lane if a driver lets it drift. It can also parallel park automatically. But the research vehicle takes things to the next level –
The driver is always in control, if she wants to be, and can take over for the car at any time by moving the wheel or stepping on the throttle or brakes.
Sources: c/net and ExtremeTech