Last month, Ford and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute had a guy dress up in a car-seat costume and drive around all day in a Ford Transit Connect. They filmed the entire time, capturing the baffled expressions, amused laughter, fear, and curiosity of passers-by reacting to a seemingly driverless van.
Ford would have us believe this is research, but it sure sounds like a reality show!
Self-driving cars are going to be a part of daily life in the near future, many of them making deliveries on their own. What Ford and Virginia Tech both wanted to know was what signals a car with no people in it could use to replace the body-language cues of a driver.
"We need to solve for the challenges presented by not having a human driver, so designing a way to replace the head nod or hand wave is fundamental to ensuring safe and efficient operation of self-driving vehicles in our communities," explains John Shutko, Ford technical specialist leading Human Factors.
We may not have self-driving cars at Ford of Smithtown yet, but our 2017 Ford Fusion has dozens of semi-autonomous features for you to enjoy.