This is the latest project that Ford is working on among several other advanced futuristic projects such as autonomous and self-driving cars and hybrid fusion cars.
This project is going to introduce a number of on-demand electric shuttles which will operate on the city roads as well as campus walkways at MIT. The vehicles are going to be using cameras and LiDAR sensors for measuring pedestrian flow which is going to help predict the demand for these shuttles.
This is going to help researchers, as well as driver’s, route the shuttles towards the areas which have the most demand so that they can accommodate riders better. If there is not any demand, then there is no sense in making the shuttles wait, is there? Ford's new technology will effectively solve this issue. This will be better for society and help some people save some time.
This information is going to help them develop prolific algorithms which will bring together various relevant data. This will help improve mobility-on-demand services, and also help with ongoing pedestrian detection and efforts to map during autonomous vehicle research.
Using high-tech labs
This research is now being conducted at the Aerospace Controls Lab at the Aeronautics & Astronautics Department at MIT. The ACL researches autonomous systems and looks after the design for spacecraft, aircraft, and ground vehicles. Experimental and theoretical research is being pursued in areas like navigation and estimation, learning or planning under uncertainty, vehicle autonomy, and this incredible list continues.
Locating rides
MIT and Ford's researchers want to introduce this service to a number of faculty and students from September. This group is going to use mobile applications to alert one out of three electric vehicles and then get dropped off at various destinations on the campus.
These electric vehicles are small and can easily navigate the sidewalks of the campus while leaving enough room for pedestrian traffic. Each of them also comes with waterproof enclosures which will shield passengers from the weather. This feature is quite useful considering the punishing weather in New England.
Once the shuttles are requested for using a smartphone application, MIT students and faculty will not to have to wait too long for their ride. This means they can get their work done quicker, save time, and get on with their business with less delay.
LiDAR
In the last five months, MIT and Ford have used cameras and LiDAR sensors for documenting pedestrian flow between various points on the campus. LiDAR has proven to be the most effective way of detecting and localizing objects from the environment which surrounds the shuttles. The technology is far more accurate as compared to GPS and emits short pulses of laser lights to pinpoint the location of vehicles precisely on maps and detect the movement of objects and pedestrians as well.
The result
This data will then be used by researchers to look at the overall pattern of how pedestrians move across the campus, and this will make it easier for researchers to anticipate where maximum demand for the shuttles is going to be at any point. This will allow the shuttles to be pre-positioned strategically and routed to serve the populace in an efficient way.
Other factors will also be taken into account here like varying weather, class schedules, and the habits of professors and students across various periods of the year. It is a brave new world.
