In November 2021, during the Guangzhou Auto Show, Ford announced the official launch of its V2X services in Guangzhou. This is the third city, following Wuxi and Changsha, and the service will be further expanded to six cities in China including Beijing.
Ford’s vehicle-to-infrastructure cooperation is the first for smart connected vehicles in the entire vehicle industry in Guangzhou. So far, Ford’s V2X services are supported by 133 kilometers of road and 102 intersections.
Currently, four Ford models are equipped with V2X hardware. These models are EVOS (the model experienced this time), Explorer, Mustang Mach-E, and Edge.
Currently, vehicle-to-infrastructure cooperation is still in its early stages of development, and standards are being unified. Ford V2X uses a technology architecture similar to that of a mobile cellular network. The vehicle does not directly interact with roadside equipment but connects to cloud servers through network to obtain/transmit roadside information.
At present, the V2X functions based on the synchronization of traffic signals are specifically reflected in the countdown display of traffic lights, green wave speed, and start reminder. It should be noted that this function is only limited to the current location of the vehicle to the next traffic light intersection.“`html
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In my opinion, the importance of V2X is not only about its capabilities but also its user experience, especially in its current less sophisticated state. Therefore, we can focus on the interaction itself.
After entering a designated section, the voice prompt function will display the traffic light information with a countdown on both the dashboard and central screen. Considering the situation where the visibility of the traffic light is obstructed by a large vehicle or other obstacles, the following vehicle can accurately judge the time of the traffic light, increasing safety and allowing for more reasonable operation of the throttle and brake to save energy.
The function of starting reminder is also convenient because it prevents the following vehicle from being affected by distractions such as playing with a mobile phone or looking at the roadside while waiting for a traffic light. The green wave speed function, in simple terms, helps the vehicle pass through the intersection at the appropriate speed. Currently, this function has not been able to integrate with the cruise control system, but only informs the driver by indicating that the vehicle has entered a green wave status, requiring the driver to maintain the current speed.
V2X is an important function to enhance the intelligence of individual vehicles, and also an application where China has the greatest advantage among many intelligent driving commercial models. Once multiple manufacturers and organizations work together to create industry standards and rely on strong industry consensus and government support to promote them extensively, this function will have more potential to tap, and indeed can improve efficiency and safety in both human driving and assisted driving modes.
🔗 Source: Ford
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.