Busy assembly lines can be dirty places, and nowhere is that more obvious than when a new vehicle rolls out of the paint shop. Specks and imperfections stand out like a sore thumb, and need to be cleaned up before a new car is delivered to a dealership. Previously, Ford relied on manual inspections, but now the automaker’s using high-res cameras that capture and analyze over 3,000 images to spot every last speck of dirt.
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Ford has joined forces with Russia’s Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University for a three-year research project aimed at improving vehicle connectivity, with inspiration coming from an unlikely source: space robots. By studying the way robots interact, Ford hopes to develop its cars’ communications systems so that tasks like contacting emergency services after an accident will be performed even if the vehicle is damaged or the data connection is lost. What’s most fascinating are the so-called “mesh networks” which allow robots to maintain a flow of information amongst themselves and with their controllers on Earth and aboard the International Space Station in the event of a disrupted connection. This knowledge could prove useful to Ford in terms of improving emergency response protocols as well as vehicle-to-vehicle communications. To learn more, check out the video and press release after the break.
Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt
Via: The Verge
Source: Ford
Owners of the Ford C-Max hybrid will be receiving a “special” payment from Ford, something it calls a goodwill payment following criticism that its hybrid vehicle didn’t live up to mileage claims. In addition to the payments, Ford has also readjusted the C-Max’s mileage rating, making it more accurate and answering to claims that it […]
It’s not like Toyota hasn’t already faced its fair share of Prius braking issues, but it appears that even more headaches are headed its way at Defcon this week. Famed white hats Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek are preparing to unleash a 100-page paper at the annual hacker conference in Las Vegas, and notably, hacks that overtake both Toyota and Ford automotive systems will be positioned front and center. The information was gathered as part of a multi-month project that was funded by the US government, so it’s important to note that the specifics of the exploits will not be revealed to the masses; they’ll be given to the automakers so that they can patch things up before any ill-willed individuals discover it on their own.
Using laptops patched into vehicular systems, the two were able to force a Prius to “brake suddenly at 80 miles an hour, jerk its steering wheel, and accelerate the engine,” while they were also able to “disable the brakes of a Ford Escape traveling at very slow speeds.” Of course, given just how computerized vehicles have become, it’s hardly shocking to hear that they’re now easier than ever to hack into. And look, if you’re really freaked out, you could just invest in Google Glass and walk everywhere.
Filed under: Transportation, Software
Source: Reuters
Earlier this month we saw a car with a joystick shift lever. It looks cool, but it doesn’t have any additional function. Ford engineer Zachary Nelson made a more high-tech shift lever mod that’s geared towards newbie drivers. It’s a shift knob that vibrates to tell you when to shift gears.
The shift knob is based on the Arduino Pro Mini microcontroller. Using an Android app and the OpenXC Vehicle Interface, the knob “monitors the vehicle’s speed, RPM and accelerator pedal position. Based on this information, the application calculates and then indicates to the driver when he or she should shift by vibrating the shift knob.” Additionally, the knob can be set to prioritize speed or fuel economy. Zach used a motor from an Xbox 360 controller to make the knob vibrate and then designed and 3D printed the knob’s case. It was then installed onto the manual shift lever from a Ford Mustang.
Start your browser’s engine and head to OpenXC to find out how to make a vibrating shift knob. Or not.
You’re not going to find it in the next car you drive off the lot, but a Ford engineer has developed a fairly novel approach to making a manual transmission a bit easier to adjust to: a vibrating shifter knob. As he explains in the video after the break, Zach Nelson first turned to an Xbox 360 controller for the necessary vibrating mechanism, which he then stuffed into a 3D-printed knob along with an Arduino controller and an LED display.
When fully assembled, the knob is able to communicate with the vehicle’s on-board diagnostic system using Ford’s open source OpenXC software platform, and vibrate to let you know when you need to shift gears. As Wired notes, the knob can even be used by more experienced drivers to pinpoint exactly when to shift to get either the most performance or the best fuel economy. We also expect a booming business in custom shifter designs to start any minute now.
Filed under: Misc, Transportation
Via: Wired Autopia
Source: Ford (YouTube)
While manual transmissions are a lot better than automatics, many people still don’t know how to drive them. However, whether you’re a youngster with a learning permit, or are just starting out on a manual transmission, Ford wants to make the learning process a bit easier, with a new shift knob that tells you when to shift based on haptic feedback.
Zach Nelson, a junior engineer at Ford, came up with an idea to help newbies learning how to use a manual transmission. By tearing apart an Xbox 360 controller and using its vibrating motors, Nelson 3D-printed a custom shift knob and placed the motors inside in order to give drivers haptic feedback. Whenever the driver needs to shift, the shift knob will vibrate.
Nelson installed the shift knob in a Ford Mustang by tapping into the car’s diagnostic system and connected the shift knob to the car using an Arduino controller, an Android tablet, and a Bluetooth receiver. From there, Nelson can program the knob to vibrate at different times, like vibrating as the engine redlines, or vibrate at a more fuel-efficient rev point.
The prototype shift knob that Nelson built also includes a seven-segment display on top to show what gear the car is currently in. Nelson says that was merely just a fun thing he added, since drivers probably won’t look down anyway to see what gear they’re in, as the instrument panel already displays this information.
Of course, it’s not necessarily when to shift that’s the hard part in learning a manual transmission — that was actually the easiest for me. I had the most trouble with getting out of neutral and going to first gear, and I would always stall the car at stop lights, which was pretty embarrassing. If they can discover a learning-assist tool for that, then I’ll be good.
VIA: Wired
Ford 3D-printed shift knob provides haptic feedback for manual newbies is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Modern automobiles benefit from increasingly small and smart computers, which can help control or augment everything from a car’s dashboard display to fundamental functions like steering. But as the world is slowly realizing, if something runs software, that thing can be hacked. That’s what Forbes recently found out thanks to a demonstration by two computer security experts.
Image by Forbes
Forbes’ Andy Greenberg met with Charlie Miller – a security engineer at Twitter – and Chris Valasek – the Director of Security Intelligence at security services consulting firm IOActive – to experience firsthand how today’s high-tech cars can be fooled. Charlie and Chris connected to one of the Electronic Control Units or ECUs of a Toyota Prius and proceeded to do all sorts of dangerous tweaks with it on the fly.
Charlie and Chris are working under a grant from DARPA to expose vulnerabilities in cars. Greenberg also drove a Ford Escape that both security experts hacked in similar ways. When Greenberg spoke to a Toyota spokesperson, he was told that the hack in the video above didn’t really concern them because it involved gaining access to the car and physically connecting a device to it. But the reason why Charlie and Chris didn’t bother to do it wirelessly is because that part has already been proven, way back in 2010:
Yeah these things need to be patched now. These videos are extremely troubling.
For many police officers, their cruiser’s front seat is often their office — but a parked car isn’t always a safe car. With Surveillance Mode, Ford hopes to keep your city’s finest a little safer in the heat of the night. By combining its existing driver-assist tech — backup cameras, power door locks and cross-traffic alerts — the Dearborn automaker has devised a system to signal officers of a potential attack from behind. When a potential assailant crosses into the rear camera’s viewing range, Surveillance Mode sounds a chime, the windows roll up and the doors lock. This ought to give officers valuable extra time to apprise the situation at hand. It may not be a tumbler, but it’s a start.
Oh, and don’t fret about your local black and white’s sanity: Surveillance Mode can be deactivated at will, so gaggles of pedestrians won’t set off the alarm every five minutes.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: Ford News Center
A new technology that could make its way to production cars is being tested in a handful of Ford police interceptors. The new tech is called “Surveillance Mode,” and it essentially gives police officers eyes in the back of their heads when they’re in their cars to prevent sudden sneak-ups coming from the rear.
It’s a fairly simple technology and it uses current rear cameras used for backing up to detect movement going on behind the car. When it detects a person moving in the camera’s view, the inside of the car makes a beeping noise and all the doors automatically lock and the windows automatically roll up to prevent any possibly sudden attacks.
The technology is obviously designed to keep police officers safer while they’re out on patrol, especially when they’re alone. Interestingly enough, the idea for this was thought up by Ford engineer Randy Freiburger who went on a ride-along with a police office in Los Angeles. The officer had to get out of the car to chase down a suspect on foot, leaving Freiburger alone in the car.
A screen in the rear-view mirror shows the video footage of the rear camera, and unlike in production cars when the camera is only enabled in reverse gear, this camera can stay on at all times and remain activated until the driver chooses to disable the feature when it isn’t needed.
The technology will come standard in all 2014 Ford police cars, and older models can have the system retrofitted for just a few hundred dollars. No word on whether or not this technology will make it to production cars at some point, but everyday drivers could certainly benefit from such a feature to prevent robberies and carjackings.
SOURCE: Ford
Ford Surveillance Mode gives police cars protection from rear approaches is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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