How Ford Calculates Driver Workload to Dial Back Distractions

Image: Ford Motor Company

DETROIT, Michigan — It never fails. Just when traffic begins bunching up or you’re forced to make an evasive maneuver, the phone rings. And it’s your boss or your spouse or another important person in your life. But even with Bluetooth hands-free, it may not be the best time to take the call and take your mind off of driving. To make cars more proactive in this process, Ford researchers are working on using input from the vehicle, advanced safety systems and the driver’s body to preempt phone calls or other electronic distractions.

Using real-time data from the throttle, brakes and steering wheel, and meshing it with information from radar sensors and cameras used in systems such as blind-spot monitoring and lane-departure prevention, Ford has developed an algorithm to create a “driver workload estimator.” This is then used to manage infotainment and communication features to potentially keep drivers from becoming distracted, and the automaker is also augmenting this with info from biometric sensors embedded in the steering wheel, seat and seatbelt to measure driver stress to further fine-tune the experimental system and provide earlier warnings.

“Modern cars have rapidly evolved to have an astonishing degree of awareness about traffic and the environment, using radars and other sensing technology to create a sort of sixth sense for the driver,” Jeff Greenberg, senior technical leader for Vehicle & Enterprise Sciences with Ford Research & Innovation, told Wired. ”Our researchers are extending that sixth sense to include being aware of the driver by using biometrics — sensing heart rate and breathing. The next step is building in intelligence so that the car can help reduce workload in demanding situations or when high driver stress levels are present.”

Continue Reading “How Ford Calculates Driver Workload to Dial Back Distractions” »

Tags: ,
Back to top

SpaceX Joins Aerospace Elites to Test New Engines

Photo: SpaceX

SpaceX is upgrading its engines. A month after the company’s historic trip to the International Space Station, SpaceX says a new and improved version of its Merlin rocket engine has passed initial testing at its development facility in McGregor, Texas (video below).

And it’s turning out to be a rocket-engine-testing kind of week. Two other NASA-funded programs from Orbital Sciences and Boeing also tested new engines.

The Falcon 9 rocket that launched the Dragon space capsule into orbit last month is powered by nine Merlin engines. All of the Merlin engines use rocket-grade kerosene for fuel, and liquid oxygen as the oxidizer. The new model, the Merlin 1D, is the fifth version of the rocket engine designed and built in-house at SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California, headquarters.

The first Merlin engine was used on SpaceX’s early Falcon 1 flights. The Merlin 1B never made it on a flight and the original Merlin 1C also flew on early Falcon 1 flights. A version of the 1C called the Merlin Vacuum was announced in 2009 and is the engine that has powered the Falcon 9 flights up until now.

Continue Reading “SpaceX Joins Aerospace Elites to Test New Engines” »

Tags: ,
Back to top

Ford Inches Toward Autonomous Cars, Helps the Parking-Challenged

Image: Ford Motor Company

Most people don’t know how to drive, or even park. Not you, of course, but all those other idiots on the road. They slow you down on the freeway, alternately stabbing the brakes and accelerator, causing a chain-reaction slowdown behind them. Or they back up traffic while cautiously inching into a parking spot, with little regard for those around them. But help is available, with more on the way. While serious motorists decry the creep of technology that takes control from the driver, they should instead thank car companies for making what’s easy for some of us – like maintaining speed with the flow of traffic and quickly pulling into a parking spot – foolproof for more people.

And Ford is making it more affordable for the masses. The automaker has announced two new driver assistance technologies: Traffic Jam Assist and the addition of perpendicular parking to its Active Park Assist system. Ford says it’s developing Traffic Jam Assist for the “mid-term” and the perpendicular parking feature for the “near-term.”

Continue Reading “Ford Inches Toward Autonomous Cars, Helps the Parking-Challenged” »

Back to top

Kinect in Cars? Microsoft Job Listing Hints at New Auto Applications

Image: Microsoft

A job listing posted by Microsoft hints at future integration of everything from Xbox Kinect to Windows 8 into vehicles, with a heavy focus on the next generation of in-car user interfaces.

While it’s doubtful that Microsoft plans to slap a Kinect controller onto your dashboard, automakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz are actively working on gesture-based controls for their vehicles. And considering the crew from Redmond already has the technology and a range of automaker partners, it’s not surprising that Microsoft wants to be a serious, embedded player in the ultimate mobile device.

This isn’t Microsoft’s first foray into the automotive space. The software company’s Windows Embedded architecture has been employed by an extensive list of automakers, including Honda, Nissan, Aston Martin and BMW. More recently, Microsoft has partnered with Ford to launch its Sync system, Kia’s UVO infotainment setup and Fiat’s Blue&Me in-car entertainment and navigation services.

But this next step takes it much further. According to the posting:

For the next generation of the Connected Car Platform, we plan to leverage the full power of the Microsoft ecosystem including Kinect, Windows 8, Windows Phone, Windows Live, Bing, Azure, and Tellme. The combination of rich local sensing, user identification, cloud access, and data mining will transform tomorrow’s cars from passive objects into intelligent assistants for both the driver and their passengers. The new Connected Car will know its riders, and will interact with them naturally via speech, gestures, and face tracking. It will learn their habits, and offer personalized contextual information and driving assists to get them to their destination as quickly and safely as possible. Through a growing catalogue of applications, it will inform and entertain them, and keep them connected with the people and information they care about. The possibilities are endless.

In addition to its range of OEM automotive partners, Microsoft also showed off what it’s capable of earlier this year, joining forces with West Coast Customs to outfit a 1967 Ford Mustang with a Metro-inspired UI, Sync integration, two Kinect controllers to monitor motion and objects in front and behind the fastback, and a heads-up display complete with Bing Maps integration, turn-by-turn directions and point-of-interest search.

The keystone of Microsoft’s in-car push is personalization, utilizing the user’s smartphone to recognize who’s behind the wheel and then tailoring the driving experience through everything from playlists to integrated calendar notifications. A persistent data connection and cloud synchronization is also part of the package, along with apps, apps and more apps, all of which would be upgraded over the air.

As for the user interface, a combination of voice commands and gestures are likely to make up the next generation of in-car controls, and Microsoft is keenly placed to be a leader in the development of these latest UIs.

Tags: , ,
Back to top

Learning to Let the Car Drive

GM's Jeremy Salinger tests Cadillac's Super Cruise System. Photo: GM

What will drivers do when autonomous cars become a reality: text or tweet while behind the wheel, relax and take in the scenery, catch up on some reading or even some sleep? While you may be able to kick back once the car takes over, don’t expect to check out. And letting go of the wheel – and full control of the car – will likely happen in stages to better prepare drivers for when cars inevitably switch to autopilot.

In anticipation of autonomous vehicles hitting the road – and with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance already taking some control from drivers – the federal government and General Motors worked with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) to conduct a study of driver behavior when they aren’t actively driving. The goal of the Limited Ability Autonomous Driving Systems study, conducted in 2011 in a driving simulator at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis and with VTTI on a GM test track in Michigan, was to learn how drivers react when a car takes over primary tasks they’re used to performing.

“Learning from the advance safety features gets people familiar with this type of interaction and is a step towards automated driving,” GM’s Innovation Program manager Jeremy Salinger told Wired. While not widespread, ADAS features found on higher-end cars have started to trickle down to more modestly priced cars, and they’ll help more drivers become familiar with the feel of the vehicle driving itself. “We certainly do see these systems migrating to the mainstream,” says Ian Riches, director of global automotive practice for Strategy Analytics. “In 2009, over 70 percent of ADAS technology was fitted to premium vehicles. By 2019, we’re forecasting only around 40 percent of ADAS will be on these premium vehicles. To put this in some context, premium vehicles make up less than 10 percent of global vehicle production.”

Continue Reading “Learning to Let the Car Drive” »

Tags: , ,
Back to top
« OLDER POSTS