{"id":11609,"date":"2021-06-26T17:13:54","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T15:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=11609"},"modified":"2021-06-26T17:13:54","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T15:13:54","slug":"ford-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2021\/06\/26\/ford-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford starts self-driving delivery van project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ford has announced a new Self-Driving Vehicle Research Programme designed to help businesses in Europe understand how autonomous vehicles can benefit their operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hermes is the first business to partner with Ford on the programme. Using a customised Ford commercial vehicle, the research aims to better understand how other road users would interact with an apparently driverless delivery van.<\/span><\/p>\n

The specially adapted Ford Transit features sensors that mimic the look of an actual self-driving vehicle plus a \u201cHuman Car Seat\u201d in control of the vehicle \u2013 this enables an experienced, hidden driver to drive while giving the impression to others around that there is no one at the wheel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs we plan to bring autonomous vehicles to the roads, it is important that we focus not only on enabling the technology, but on enabling our customers\u2019 businesses,\u201d said Richard Balch, director, Autonomous Vehicles and Mobility, Ford of Europe. \u201cClearly, there is no better way to identify how they may need to adapt than to experience those processes in real life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The project intends to identify new opportunities and models for autonomous vehicle operations \u2013 in particular understanding how existing processes and human interactions can work alongside automated vehicles. Commercial vehicles\u2019 planned operations and many human interactions are an ideal test case.<\/span><\/p>\n

A commercial vehicle driver\u2019s responsibilities sometimes extend beyond simply driving from one destination to another. In a delivery or logistics operation, for example, the driver may also be tasked with sorting and loading goods, manually handing packages over to recipients \u2013 or reloading them onto the van if delivery is not possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, in this research, the driver will play an entirely passive role, simply driving the vehicle. Pedestrian couriers who support the delivery van are equipped with a smartphone app that lets them hail the vehicle and remotely unlock the load door after it is safely parked at the roadside. Once inside, voice prompts and digital screens direct the courier to their locker, containing the parcels to be delivered.<\/span><\/p>\n

Understanding and designing how humans will interact with the vehicle will ensure that business processes are able to continue safely without a driver present.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two-week research project with Hermes builds on the success of Ford’s \u201clast mile delivery\u201d trials in London, in which a team of pedestrian couriers collects parcels from a delivery van and fulfils the last leg of the delivery by foot resulting in fast, sustainable and efficient deliveries in cities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The research vehicles will enable Hermes and other businesses to begin designing how their teams could work alongside driverless vehicles. For Hermes, this user design research has included developing an app that enables the pedestrian couriers to access the van to collect parcels, once again, this is a role that the human driver would normally fulfil.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to collaborate with Ford on this proof of concept trial, which is all about understanding the potential for autonomous vehicles and if they have a role in delivery in the longer-term future,\u201d said Lynsey Aston, head of product, Innovation and Onboarding. \u201cWe\u2019re constantly innovating to incubate and then explore concepts like this, and we look forward to the initial findings, which will no doubt be useful on an industry-wide level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ford researchers are already investigating how self-driving vehicles will integrate seamlessly into our daily lives, including developing a light-based visual language to convey to other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists what autonomous vehicles intend to do next.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/greenfleet.net<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Ford has announced a new Self-Driving Vehicle Research Programme designed to help businesses in Europe understand how autonomous vehicles can benefit their operations. Hermes is the first business to partner with Ford on the programme. Using a customised Ford commercial vehicle, the research aims to better understand how other road users would interact with an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[8],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11611,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11609\/revisions\/11611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}