Ford's Autonomous Offensive Places Escape Hybrid on the Front Line

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

With Ford having discontinued the Fusion sedan to prioritize higher-margin models, the automaker will need to select a different unit as its preferred platform for self-driving test mules. It will need to choose wisely, too. According to the company, its fourth of generation autonomous test vehicles will foreshadow real-world commercial endeavors using the technology.

On Tuesday, Ford and Argo AI announced that it would be the Escape Hybrid carrying the torch of technology. Starting this month, models fresh from the factory will be modified with the “latest advancements in sensing and computing technology.” The crossover will then be exposed to the most rigorous testing regimen the automaker’s ongoing AV program can muster. From there, the Escape will serve as the architecture and platform Ford has decided will bring its autonomous vehicle service to life.

While those services are already a year behind schedule, with the pandemic serving as a convenient excuse, Ford also wants to address some of the issues it had with its third-gen AVs. That includes everything from incorporating more-advanced LiDAR and radar systems (with a wider field of view) to designing new and improved ways of keeping those sensors clear to the car can actually function. Hysterically, automakers attempting to design autonomous vehicles found themselves flummoxed by road grime covering the sensors necessary for a vehicle’s self-driving functions. This also causes problems for modern vehicles with advanced safety systems.

On fourth-generation AVs, Ford said it would be implementing hydrophobic coatings, shaped air chambers, and more spray nozzles to keep sensing equipment debris-free and operational. Interestingly enough, this seems to have been one of the final pieces of Blue Oval’s autonomous puzzle.

From Ford:

The systems we’re incorporating into our newest test vehicles are “launch-intent” in terms of the components we believe will be needed to support commercialization. What this means is that with a well-defined architecture and platform in the Escape Hybrid, our team can continuously test and refine performance over the coming years to better prepare us for launch. Everything we learn while using them can be channeled directly into our self-driving service as soon as it starts serving customers.

That makes it sound as though Ford/Argo’s timeline to launch these commercial programs hasn’t gotten any shorter. But that has become an issue affecting the whole of the industry. Despite meaningful advancements in self-driving technologies over the last several years, every company that set a target date for commercialization has missed it. Autonomous vehicles have been stuck in a rut ever since, though the work has continued.

Ford’s AV commercial services will be focused on the delivery of packages and other goods, with autonomous cabs expected to come only after driver-free pizza delivery has been mastered. Meanwhile, the company plans on continuing to test its fleet of Fusions as the Escapes are gradually added to the roster. The automaker presently has about 100 autonomous mules operating in Austin, Detroit, Miami, Palo Alto, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C.

[Image: Ford Motor Co.]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Conundrum Conundrum on Oct 22, 2020

    https://www.hagerty.com/media/opinion/avoidable-contact-65-the-autonomous-grift-and-how-youre-going-to-pay-the-price-for-it/ This'll make you think. Yet Musk thinks he's done enough with the systems on a Tesla to give Level Four autonomous driving. Not even close and Level Five? Well, read the article. That Escape looks so cool with its Mr Clown hat!

  • HotPotato HotPotato on Oct 24, 2020

    That massive amount of stuff tacked on all over the car is required for truly autonomous driving. Bear that in mind when Tesla tells you its new "full self driving" software will be "feature complete" in the next release. I expect Tesla cannot ever get to full self driving with the limited suite of cameras and sensors stylishly hidden on their cars. I'd like to be wrong.

    • Mcs Mcs on Oct 24, 2020

      "That massive amount of stuff tacked on all over the car is required for truly autonomous driving." Definitely not true. Well, at least as far as LIDAR goes. Lots of issues with it. I could write volumes about it. This is from personal experience with it. On the other hand, that stack and Tesla is missing a few sensors I'd like to have. One is the ground-penetrating radar mapping system MIT is developing. It'll find a road under a foot of snow if needed. The other is a system that is still under development that can assemble optical reflections and moving shadows to see hazards that normally wouldn't be visible. My personal theory is that AVs have to be better than any human to succeed. Vision beyond the capabilities of a human is the way to get there. It also gives the system more time to react and anticipate hazards. There are rumors that Tesla may be adding this system to their sensor suite. It doesn't seem to have the issues that LIDAR has. https://arberobotics.com/technology/

  • Joe This is called a man in the middle attack and has been around for years. You can fall for this in a Starbucks as easily as when you’re charging your car. Nothing new here…
  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
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