Yes, once upon a time we were all promised that the future would bring us jetpacks and hoverboards, and robotic housekeepers full of wisdom and sass. While we may never get wisecracking butlers and maids, and thankfully jet packs never materialized, the Ford Motor Company is working on something truly futuristic that may actually change the world: self-driving cars.
At the Kearny Pearson Ford dealership in San Diego, the new and used cars for sale are all 100% human driven, but there may come a day in the near future when we start handing over our commute to a robot. (Proving once again that robots will always get the worst jobs we have) And that day may come sooner than we think, according to reports from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Franklin Curtis Jr., reporting for InformationWeek.com, revealed that Ford has developed self-driving cars to the point of testing in real world conditions, such as snow, to push the limits of what the car is capable of handling. Curtis was able to speak with one of the engineers on the project to find out how the autonomous driver works. The technology is built on an array of sensors that continually make a full three-dimensional picture of the world for the driving software to analyze and respond to. The “driver” itself is on a separate network from anything else in the car, and removed from wireless access, to remove the threat of malicious hacking. Ford engineers recognize the need for digital and physical safety in this car, and are working to protect both.
In the meantime, we will continue to drive our cars ourselves, and if you are in the market for a new car, you should drive yourself out to the Kearny Pearson Ford dealership and take a look at the full inventory of 2016 Ford cars and trucks, for now and the future.
