Ford Installing Smart Sensor Nodes In Miami To Give AVs X-Ray Vision

Unlike human beings, automated vehicles (AV) can indeed have eyes in the back of their heads and also the sides. They have a simultaneous 360 degree view of the world, but it’s not a perfect view. AVs don’t have X-ray vision (at least not yet) and can’t see through solid vehicles or structures that may be adjacent to the road. However, connectivity can help AVs see beyond line of sight and that’s what Ford, Argo AI and Quantum Signal are testing in Miami now to improve safety for next year’s planned launch of AV services. 

Recently, Waymo released a study they conducted of fatal crashes in Chandler, Arizona where they operate. They recreated those crashes in simulation, substituting their AVs for the vehicles originally involved. They found that because the AVs follow the rules of the road, don’t drive drunk and can see more than a human, each crash likely would have been avoided or mitigated. 

While the results were almost certainly accurate, the scenarios tested were not necessarily representative of all urban areas. The wide-open suburb of Phoenix tends to have broad streets and buildings set well back from the road for improved visibility. This is often not the case in urban centers like San Francisco, Chicago or Miami. In locations like that, some external assistance could help AVs achieve the type of results Waymo saw from its simulations. 

This brings us back to Ford and its partners which have been testing smart nodes. These nodes are sensor packages that include cameras, radar and lidar mounted above intersections where they can get a less obstructed view. The nodes use cellular-vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) radios to transmit information to approaching AVs about potential hazards as they approach intersections. This will enable the AV to proactively respond to pedestrians or cross-traffic before the sensors can detect them. 

Ford began testing the smart nodes at a pair of intersections in Saline, Mich. near the headquarters of its subsidiary Quantum Signal in 2020. The tests in downtown Saline were done with conventional human driven vehicles to provide alerts to the driver in situations such as a pedestrian was detected approaching the curb, or a vehicle was approaching the intersection on the cross street at elevated speed. 

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The same type of sensor pods are now being installed at several intersections in Miami where Ford and Argo have been testing prototype AVs for several years. Miami is one of three launch cities along with Washington D.C, and Austin, Texas for Ford’s automated services scheduled to debut in 2022. 

Ford isn’t the first company to leverage external sensors for a similar purpose. May Mobility installed remote cameras in downtown Detroit when it began its pilot there several years ago. The cameras are mounted up on utility poles where they can see traffic signals above trucks and buses and they relay the information back to the May Mobility automated shuttle vehicles. 

Suppliers including Bosch and Continental have also demonstrated essentially the same type of system that Ford is using with sensors providing alerts to human drivers using V2X communications. Honda has also run similar tests in Marysville, Ohio near its US R&D base since 2018. These prior tests utilized the wifi-based dedicated short range communications radio standard which was originally developed for V2X communications. However, most of the industry is now shifting to C-V2X which is based on 4G and 5G cellular technology that can communicate directly between devices without going through a carrier network.

Ford has previously announced its intention to begin deploying C-V2X in production vehicles in 2022 and General Motors

GM
has announced plans to do the same in 2023. Now that the Federal Communications Commission has ruled on reallocating some of the 5.9 GHz spectrum so that it can be used for C-V2X, other automakers are also expected to begin deployments over the next several years. 

If cities begin deploying smart sensor nodes such as those being tested by Ford at particularly dangerous intersections, it is likely to help not just AVs but also the new generation of human driven vehicles equipped with C-V2X. As more vehicles are equipped with C-V2X they can also provide alerts to each other as well as signalling intent so that human drivers and AVs that coexist on the roads will know what the others are about to do.