The Ford Motor Company has reportedly achieved a major success in harnessing fighter jet technology for its cars.
The company is said to have harnessed radar technology from the F22 fighter jet as part of its bid to make its new Taurus “America’s smartest full-sized sedan”.
Radar devices being used by the company can sound an alarm and flash red lights when a driver gets too close to another car, and, thereby, help avoid crashes.
Ford is using this hi-tech gadget to revive what was once the company’s top seller.
“This is game changing for safety,” the BBC quoted Ford’s safety head Steve Kozak as saying.
“The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the US put out a report last year saying if every vehicle in the US were equipped with this forward collision warning system, we’d save about 7,000 lives a year,” he added. Thaindian.com
“This is the time when the industry has finally caught up with technology that we can put on an affordable family sedan and make it available to our customers for an added level of safety,” said Kozak.
Jon Alain Guzik is editor-in-chief of consumer automotive website Driver Side. He says the new Taurus is more like a European car than its American counterparts.
“Basically what’s in the car is a lot what you would expect from a higher-end Mercedes, BMW, Audi but in a larger sedan fit for the American market, with this really cool technology that you don’t expect from an American brand like Ford,” said Guzik. abc7news.com
Ford said the F22 radar technology which they took and built upon was all open source.
“F22 fighter jets use this advanced radar that can read down the road and identify everything from trees to people,” said Pete Reyes, Ford’s chief engineer for the 2010 Taurus.
“We then added our own Ford algorithms to determine whether or not objects are a ‘vehicle target’.
“Then it monitors the vehicle target and always knows your position relative to those vehicle targets,” explained Mr Reyes.
Ford says its vehicle features technological innovations which are not available all together in one car in its bracket.
These include a voice-activated navigation system, multi-contour seats that massage the driver to prevent tiredness, a surround-sound system and a technology called MyKey.
With car accidents being cited as the leading cause of death for teenagers, MyKey is aimed at parents who want to control some of their children’s driving behaviour.
When the car is started with MyKey, top speeds can be limited to 80mph (130kph) and chimes can be set to sound as the car goes above 45mph.
If the young driver does not put on their seat belt, another chime rings and - possibly more importantly to teens - the sound system will not start until the driver and passenger have buckled up.
Auto journalist Carey Russ sounded a note of caution.
“Too much safety equipment can lull people into thinking they don’t need to pay attention and lead them to believe that if they do crash they will be safe.”
“As technology is changing our lives with cell phones, media players, PCs and the internet, we are applying all of that to the car,” said Ford director of electronics Jim Buczkowski.
“This is about the democratisation of technology and in the Taurus we are combining the features and technology that customers want.”
Jon Alain Guzik, editor-in-chief of DriverSide.com said “As the consumer gets a lot more enthusiastic about technology and as technology starts mediating our lives a little more, we will see more of this filter down into the less expensive cars.
“Ford’s value proposition here is impressive - it’s BMW technology at a Ford price.” BBC News
| 
|