Ford's vehicle-road collaboration system accelerates the arrival of the "no-wait-for-lights" era

Ford's vehicle-road collaboration system is deployed in Xi'an to accelerate the arrival of the "no-wait-for-the-lights" era

Xi'an, China, June 15, 2022 - Following Wuxi, Changsha and Guangzhou, Ford Motor Company announced that its vehicle-road collaboration system has landed in Xi'an, and has joined hands with its partner NavInfo to help car owners solve the problem of "waiting for the light". As the first vehicle manufacturer in the industry to mass-produce and apply the vehicle-road collaboration system, the company's six Ford brand models have all been equipped with this black technology as standard, realizing smart travel that connects people, cars and cities. In addition, Tutong Data, a leading Internet of Vehicles technology service provider, provided key data processing and distribution as well as related operation and maintenance services for the project.

Ford's high-tech technology landed in Xi'an 

As an important fulcrum city of the "Belt and Road Initiative", Xi'an has an important strategic position of connecting the east and the west and the north and the south. The city's car ownership has exceeded 4 million, ranking seventh in the country, and the urban traffic pressure is relatively high. In terms of the digital construction of road traffic, Xi'an has always been at the forefront of the country. As of July 2021, Xi'an has completed the intelligent transformation of traffic lights at 1,341 intersections in the main urban area. Improving Xi'an's traffic efficiency and safety through vehicle-road collaboration is Ford's vision and original intention to implement the vehicle-road collaboration system in Xi'an.

Ford's first batch of vehicle-road cooperative systems were launched at nearly 100 intersections in Weiyang District and Yanta District of Xi'an

Ford's vehicle-road collaboration system has been implemented in Xi'an, with the first batch of nearly 100 intersections in Weiyang District and Yanta District of Xi'an being opened. In the future, more intersections will be covered in Xi'an. Ford owners can access the local smart transportation system through OTA upgrades without adding any hardware, and experience the smooth driving experience brought by vehicle-road collaboration.

As an important partner of Ford Motor Company in Xi'an, NavInfo, as a leading domestic provider of intelligent vehicle-city integration solutions, leverages its advantages in high-precision maps, engines and big data platforms, and provides key technical support for Ford vehicles to achieve two-way interconnection of "vehicle-road (signal lights and road information)-cloud (traffic cloud control platform)" through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Intelligent Transportation Cloud Control Platform.  

Vehicle-road collaboration technology allows vehicles to have “real-time conversations” with roads, people and vehicles.

As an advanced wireless communication technology for vehicles, vehicle-road collaboration technology (also known as "cellular vehicle-to-everything", or "C-V2X") enables "real-time dialogue" between vehicles (V2V), vehicles and intelligent infrastructure (V2I), and vehicles and people (V2P). With this technology, vehicles can receive traffic information on the road ahead and predict risks beyond the range of sensors, thereby helping car owners avoid congestion, reduce the risk of collisions and running red lights, and improve overall traffic efficiency. 

Ford is the first domestic automaker to use the "car-road-cloud" network model to realize the mass production application of car-road collaboration technology, and has obvious advantages in the rapid deployment of car-road collaboration functions. Currently, Ford's car-road collaboration system has been standard in six Ford brand mass-produced models, including the new generation Mondeo, the new generation F-150 Raptor, EVOS, Mustang Mach-E, Edge PLUS and the new Explorer, and has successively covered parts of Wuxi, Changsha, Guangzhou and Xi'an. With the advancement of intelligent transformation of urban roads in various places, the coverage of Ford's car-road collaboration system is also constantly expanding.

Six major functions to solve the pain points of users waiting for lights

Based on the communication mode of the existing commercial 4G/5G cellular network, Ford's vehicle-road cooperative system uses two-way data interconnection between "vehicle-road-cloud" to display the traffic light status, road infrastructure and other information at the intersection ahead in the form of images and sounds very intuitively on the dashboard. At the same time, it can also synchronize the traffic light status at the intersection ahead in the map navigation mode of the vehicle computer. 

Ford's six functions of vehicle-road collaboration effectively solve the problem of "waiting for the light"

Based on China's urban road conditions and car owners' driving habits, Ford China has developed six major vehicle-road collaborative functions, including traffic light signal push, green wave speed, green light start reminder, red light running warning, road information broadcast, and electronic road signs, which can effectively improve intersection passing efficiency and reduce urban road congestion. 

Traffic light signal push

Traffic conditions at intersections are complex. Traffic light signal push can let car owners know the conditions of the intersection ahead before driving through the intersection. With the green wave speed given by the system, they can avoid waiting for the light when arriving at the intersection as much as possible. In addition, many people are easily distracted when waiting for the light, and the green light start reminder can easily solve the embarrassment of not starting in time. The red light warning reminds car owners to slow down and brake in advance, avoiding the situation where they find that the light is red at the intersection and brake suddenly. Car owners can also make personalized settings such as sensitivity adjustment and sound reminder on/off according to their personal driving habits.

Imagine the future of smart transportation without waiting for lights

"From the first technical verification in China in 2017 to its official application in mass-produced models in 2021, the vehicle-road cooperative system has iterated more than 200 versions. We will continue to polish the product based on user feedback to make it more and more easy to use. We also hope that more partners will join us to jointly promote the large-scale commercial application of vehicle-road cooperative systems. At the same time, with the integration of vehicle-road cooperative technology and advanced driver assistance systems, and even its application in L4 autonomous driving, the wish of 'not waiting for the light' will eventually become a reality," said He Zhiqiang, senior director of intelligent connected product delivery at Ford China. 

Ford will work with partners to expand vehicle-road collaboration to more cities

Shi Qinghua, vice president of NavInfo and general manager of Century Qualcomm, said: "Ford has a first-mover advantage in the field of vehicle-road collaboration. As a leader in the field of intelligent vehicle-city integration solutions, NavInfo looks forward to further deepening its cooperation with Ford and promoting the coverage of vehicle-road collaboration in more cities, so that vehicles and roads can be fully intelligently connected, thereby alleviating urban traffic congestion and supporting the development of smart transportation in China."

The large-scale commercial application of vehicle-road cooperative technology requires the collaborative cooperation of multiple parties. As more and more cities accelerate the construction of smart transportation, Ford China will gradually expand the application scope and application scenarios of the vehicle-road cooperative system, allowing smarter cars to be interconnected with smart roads and smart cities, drawing a beautiful blueprint for a more intelligent and technological future travel.