General
January 7, 2019
6 minutes read

Ford Plans Wireless Communication Tech For New Vehicles Beginning 2022

A Ford self-driving vehicle ‘ image : Ford Ford has announced plans for to deploy wireless communication technology for all…

A Ford self-driving vehicle ‘

image : Ford

Ford has announced plans for to deploy wireless communication technology for all of its new vehicles in the U.S. beginning 2022. The new tech is dubbed “cellular vehicle-to-everything technology” or C-V2X for short. Ford describes it as wireless communication tech that can “talk” to and “listen” for other connected vehicles, people and traffic infrastructure to pass important information to make driving safer.

It’s planned alongside rapidly building 5G cellular network scheduled to become operational in soon time and enables direct communication between vehicles, meaning signals don’t need to first travel to a cellular tower to be transmitted, Ford says.

image : Ford

Ford’s plans to deploy this technology builds on its current commitment to equip every of its vehicle model in the U.S. with conventional cellular connectivity by the end of this year. C-V2X will work with Ford Co-Pilot360, the company’s advanced suite of driver-assist and safety features standard on its new passenger cars, SUVs and trucks across the North American region.

C-V2X can complement the sensors of self-driving cars, making an addition for the LiDAR, radar and camera sensors used by such vehicles, Ford says. For instance, it could notify self-driving cars of emergency vehicles on the road equipped with C-V2X so they can pull over or re-route in time to avoid disturbance.

A Ford self-driving vehicle

image : Ford

Ford also says it’s working with government organizations to create a conducive regulatory environment that must be in place for such tech to operate. “This technology will only live up to its full potential if many vehicles on the road as well as roadside infrastructure take advantage of it.” Ford Connected Vehicle Platform lead Don Butler wrote. “Billions of dollars already are being spent as the cellular industry builds 5G networks, so we think the timing is perfect to give our vehicles some of the natural skills we use every day to get around.”