Ford Begins Testing Driver-Assistance Technologies In Germany

On August 6, Ford Motor Co. began testing an array of car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communications in Germany, including an obstacle warning system and a traffic sign assistance technology.

Ford has contributed twenty specially equipped S-MAX models to a 120-vehicle fleet that will test twenty experimental driver-assistance technologies during a four-year research project.

Ford engineers have tested developmental technologies in a controlled environment and those technologies will now be tested on public roads in and around Frankfurt, Germany.

Some of the technologies that will be tested as part of the $65 million project include:

An electronic brake light, which delivers a message from a lead vehicle to a following vehicle if the lead vehicle makes an emergency braking, even if the incident occurs out of sight, for example around a bend in the road.
An obstacle warning system, which enables a vehicle to inform other drivers of a potentially hazardous obstacle.
Traffic sign assistant, a device in contact with traffic management centers that accesses information on variable speed limits, temporary restrictions, and diversions.
Public traffic management, which provides traffic prognosis based on likely traffic scenarios and their significance to the driving trip when they will impact at the point in the journey when they are encountered rather than at the point of departure.
In-car Internet access, which, for example, can enable the driver to reserve and pay for parking en route.

The technology testing is part of Ford's Blueprint for Mobility initiative to tackle issues of vehicle mobility between now and 2025.

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