Do you know those “Employees Must Wash Hands Before Returning To Work” signs that are posted in public bathrooms?
Well, if Ford ever builds autonomous vehicles, they might have the same thing.
Not for passengers, but for themselves.
A new patent application filed by Ford Global Technologies for a “Sensor Assembly With Cleaning” describes how autonomous and semi-autonomous driving systems will freshen up before they take the wheel.
The patent lays out how a cleansing procedure would be automatically initiated with the autonomous tech.
Blowers would first be used on both the section of the windshield that sensors are located behind and on any exposed sensors, including those mounted in the type of roof-mounted auxiliary housing often used on today’s AVs. If needed, this would be followed by sprays of water, with the wipers activated for a few cycles to clear the windshield.
A variety of sensors including cameras, radars and lidar are essentially to most advanced autonomous and semi-autonomous driving systems, and they are effectively useless if they’re dirty.
I experienced this first hand recently while driving a Lincoln Corsair down a dirt road and getting several messages that cruise control and automatic braking were not available due to the sensors getting covered in dust.
Ford last year shut down its Argo AI division that was working to develop Level 5 fully autonomous vehicles, but even the less capable Level 3 and 4 systems that are in the works in its new Latitude AI department will need a clear view of the road and everything on it to operate.
Ford CEO Jim Farley has suggested that the automaker will be able to provide semi-autonomous vehicles that will allow the driver to take a nap on the highway and is working on a sleek electric SUV he likened to a “personal bullet train” that could potentially have the technology.