rperez817 Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Back to autonomous vehicles for a minute. I was driving back from Wisconsin this weekend during a snow/sleet storm and I was using by adaptive cruise control when it stopped working. A warning message came up stating the sensor was blocked. When I arrived at my destination the front of the truck was covered with ice. I have an aftermarket bumper so the sensor was relocated higher in the grill which in my opinion would actually be a safer place than the stock location, and less likely to accumulate snow/ice. I imagine autonomous vehicles will use sensors similar to these, so how are these vehicles going to manage a situation like that which will surely happen? Ford's lead engineer for autonomous vehicles, Jim McBride, mentioned the company is using 3D mapping technology to supplement sensors in their autonomous vehicles. McBride says redundant systems are the key to managing situations like snowy or icy weather. In Ford's tests, the 3D map data enabled their autonomous test cars to "see" even when the sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar could not. http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/mobility/2017/10/25/robotic-car-developers-testing-snow-ice/106979218/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbone Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Well, the car may know where to go based on the map, but what I didnt mention was that prior to this message, I had changed lanes and was approaching a vehicle faster than what I felt was normal operation of the ACC, so I put on the breaks myself. Maybe it would have stopped but I didnt think it felt like it was slowing like it should. Lets just say it didnt give me a lot of confidence. Perhaps the sensors need to be heated to help mitigate this kind of issue, similar to how a heated mirror works. Nevertheless, I feel like there is still much work to be done in order to gain the confidence of the driver/rider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fordmantpw Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Back to autonomous vehicles for a minute. I was driving back from Wisconsin this weekend during a snow/sleet storm and I was using by adaptive cruise control when it stopped working. A warning message came up stating the sensor was blocked. When I arrived at my destination the front of the truck was covered with ice. I have an aftermarket bumper so the sensor was relocated higher in the grill which in my opinion would actually be a safer place than the stock location, and less likely to accumulate snow/ice. I imagine autonomous vehicles will use sensors similar to these, so how are these vehicles going to manage a situation like that which will surely happen? I had my ACC disabled this summer during an extremely heavy rainstorm. Actually, now that I think about it, we were coming through Wisconsin as well, so maybe it's just the state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 You can probably get around 99.999% of situations using redundant sensors, gps, etc. It’s that 0.001% that’s going to be damn near impossible to overcome and given the number of miles that Americans drive every year that’s actually a very large number. GPS may keep you on the road but as tbone points out that won’t stop you from hitting a vehicle in front of you. I suspect in that situation the vehicle would have to stop or pull over to the side of the road (if it could figure out how to do that without sensors). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2b2 Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 one "advantage" to them using the virtual-railroad method (smart-city, smart-highway) instead of artificial-autonoM.O.U.S.E.ly letting individual vehicles "decide" is the suits in charge can shut the whole system down with a push of a button. Just like they can close the Sierra passes while staying warm & dry in town... ...who cares about people stuck out there without warning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Ford is deploying autonomous cars to deliver pizza for Domino's and various consumer goods with Postmate in Miami. https://medium.com/self-driven/were-going-to-miami-the-first-proving-ground-for-our-self-driving-service-6ea7721de0a5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Hmm Ill have to keep an eye out for these. I also saw two Model 3s this evening Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Ford is deploying autonomous cars to deliver pizza for Domino's and various consumer goods with Postmate in Miami. https://medium.com/self-driven/were-going-to-miami-the-first-proving-ground-for-our-self-driving-service-6ea7721de0a5 I though this was something that was announced last year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoonerLS Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 I though this was something that was announced last year? Ford posted the video today, per the date on the YouTube page. The announcement about Domino's was recent, at NAIAS or CES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Ford posted the video today, per the date on the YouTube page. The announcement about Domino's was recent, at NAIAS or CES. No, Dominos has been for a while. It was Postmates that was the new announcement this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoonerLS Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 No, Dominos has been for a while. It was Postmates that was the new announcement this year. It looks like Ford announced it in August of last year, but they had another announcement about Domino's and self-driving delivery vehicles at NAIAS or CES of this year. It was covered in the tech press. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 It looks like Ford announced it in August of last year, but they had another announcement about Domino's and self-driving delivery vehicles at NAIAS or CES of this year. It was covered in the tech press. Hm. maybe it was an expansion of it or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoonerLS Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Hm. maybe it was an expansion of it or something. Could've just been that the tech press picked up on it because of the proximity to CES. The only mention I could find on Ford's Media site from around that time was a brief mention in a press release. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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