Going for a ride in Ford’s self-driving car

I’m sitting in the back of a Ford Fusion Hybrid, which is smoothly pulling away from a stop sign. Ordinarily, this experience wouldn’t be worth recording, but this is no ordinary Ford sedan.That’s because this Fusion Hybrid can drive itself.I’m at Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, getting a sample of what many believe is the future of the automobile: vehicles that can drive themselves without any human involvement. Ford is already committed to launching a fully-autonomous car for ride-sharing services by 2021.But will autonomous cars be ready by then? And, somewhat more importantly, will we be ready for them?The Ford scans well beyond crosswalks for approaching pedestrians, never tries to beat other cars at intersections, and always obeys the speed limit.From the outside, except for the spinning lidar units on the roof that look like stubby antlers, the autonomous prototype looks like any other Fusion Hybrid. Ford chose this model because its electrical architecture can support all of the added autonomous systems. Lidar functions similar to radar, but uses light instead of radio waves. Along with radar and cameras, it forms a trifecta of sensors that the Ford (and most other self-driving cars) use to “see” the environment.For this outing,… Read full this story

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