The automobile company is the first to test their autonomous cars in snowy weather.
Many tech companies are now starting to work on their own autonomous car technology. So far, many such cars have been tested in normal weather conditions, while Ford Motors has had a fleet ready of self-driving cars to be tested in snowy conditions, which is considered as one of the toughest weathers for drivers.
According to a video recently released by the automobile company, a fleet of Fusion cars has been seen running and driving around in snow-covered streets of Michigan. The cars use LiDAR data to get information and location of major landmarks that are in the surroundings of the car and have built-in maps on high-resolution technology. Global Manager at Ford Motor, Greg Stevens empathized on the sensing technology in the car, which is built all around it.
The sensors first collect the data near the vehicle. Secondly, it is fed into the computers that are installed in the automobile, which the use algorithms to come up with conditional ‘what if’ planning. For the dry weather, the company is working with the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering to create the 3D maps.
Other than Ford, Google is also working on its autonomous cars and making them familiar with the bad weather conditions. This trend is likely to grow onwards. This first self-driving car test was carried out in such an environment.
In other news, the automobile giant is also launching a new global model through which it will be able to avail data and separately earn revenue from customers without the sale of its autos, according to the company. This will be known as the FordPass, which will be revealed at Detroit’s Auto Show to be held on Monday. This service will be available to all the customers regardless of whether they own the company’s car or not.
In order to attract potential customers, Ford will open up FordHub in various cities including London, New York, San Francisco and Shanghai, but customers will need to go to a Ford Dealer in order to purchase a vehicle.
The CEO stated on the matter that this is a major strategy to expand and go beyond the core business. Mark Fields said that in time, the transportation service market could be worth $5.4 trillion annually and Ford’s share in that pie, right now, would be zero. Thus, it is aiming at increasing its services beyond the actual business to prosper in the market.
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