Ford’s Work On A New Smartphone App To Aid Safer Driving

A safer driving environment, Ford’s research on a new smartphone-based communications technology that could help warn drivers of pedestrians, bicyclists and more.

Suggestively, the concept smartphone app communicates potential risks to Ford vehicles via SYNC, enhancing the Ford Co-Pilot360 advanced driver assistance systems.

Ford’s executive director for research and advanced engineering, Jim Buczkowski, remarked, “Newer Ford vehicles already with Ford Co-Pilot360 Technology can detect and help warn drivers of pedestrians, bicyclists, scooter riders and others, and even apply brakes if drivers do not respond in time. We are now exploring ways to expand vehicle sensing capability, for areas drivers cannot see, to help people drive even more confidently on roads increasingly shared by others using their two feet or two wheels.”

In detail, the app runs on a pedestrian’s phone using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology, a messaging system that communicates their location to a connected Ford vehicle.

Once the vehicle calculates a potential crash risk, Ford SYNC can alert drivers by the in-vehicle screen showing graphics of pedestrians, bicyclists or more with audio alerts sounding.

Specifically, BLE connectivity technology creates wireless personal area networks using radio waves in the 2.4-gigahertz band to communicate with other similarly equipped devices. 

It is already widely available in smartphones and is compatible with Ford SYNC connected vehicle technology without any hardware changes to the vehicle.

Furthermore, BLE could also complement other technologies by communicating with similarly equipped devices that have sufficient range for alerts.

Plus, it also does not rely on line-of-sight detection like cameras or radar, which means pedestrians and others can be detected while hidden behind obstructions such as buildings.

Besides that, consumer BLE applications usually involve pairing two devices, but Ford’s concept uses it as a beacon capable of sensing multiple other similarly equipped devices in range without pairing.

With batteries as small as a ten-cent coin, it consumes very low power to operate for a very long period of time. 

That said, BLE is a widely used technology in personal electronics devices, including smartphones, fitness monitoring devices, location-based services, entertainment and others.

Buczkowski concluded, “We see other possible applications for this technology, including detecting road construction zones and construction workers. Ford innovates for the masses, so it’s very promising to start with Bluetooth Low Energy technology that’s already become part of our everyday lives because it’s affordable and effective.”