hybrid2bev

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UPDATED WITH AUDIO FILE COURTESY OF @ChasingCoral:

CTO Ken Washington-FORD’S TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY 20200922.jpg





FORD CTO DR. KEN WASHINGTON TO DISCUSS FORD’S TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY AT EVERCORE NEW MOBILITY & AI FORUM ON SEPT. 22


DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 16, 2020 – Dr. Ken Washington, chief technology officer, Ford Motor Company, is scheduled to speak at the Evercore ISI New Mobility & AI Forum on Sept. 22.

Washington will answer questions on how Ford is future-proofing its vehicle technologies in a time of unprecedented change in mobility and connectivity.

The session is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. EDT and can be viewed at this webcast link. Additional information is available at shareholder.ford.com.



https://media.ford.com/content/ford...ton-to-discuss-fords-technology-strategy.html
 

timbop

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It's a bummer that this is during business hours - would love to hear it
 

ChasingCoral

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It's a bummer that this is during business hours - would love to hear it
I'm trying to upload the recording but having issues with the forum's platform.
 

ChasingCoral

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Ford Mustang Mach-E Audio: Ford CTO Ken Washington Discusses Ford Technology, AI, Autonomous Driving and Mach-E Mustang CTO Ken Washington-FORD’S TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY 20200922
It's 37 minutes all about Ford's AI and autonomous driving work. There are multiple mentions of the Mustang Mach E and its automation.

The Forum's system doesn't seem to allow the video or audio files to be attached in this post, despite trying multiple formats. The link below will allow you to listen to the talk from a Google drive file:


Note: while it was a "video" presentation, this jpg shows the entire video portion of the presentation.
 

ChasingCoral

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All: If you have trouble with the audio it may mean your browser either lacks an MP3 extension or doesn't have it turned on.
 
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DiscWiz

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Will the 2021 Mach E ever be able to do level 3 autonomous driving?
 

ChasingCoral

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Will the 2021 Mach E ever be able to do level 3 autonomous driving?
I typed that question into the Q&A but they didn't answer it.
 

macchiaz-o

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Will the 2021 Mach E ever be able to do level 3 autonomous driving?
After listening to Ken Washington speaking about that in the recording @ChasingCoral published here, I would say Ford has no plans to do level three on MME. He spoke at length about how this is something they're actively working towards on future platforms.
 

Popeye

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After listening to Ken Washington speaking about that in the recording @ChasingCoral published here, I would say Ford has no plans to do level three on MME. He spoke at length about how this is something they're actively working towards on future platforms.
thank you @ChasingCoral for uploading this!

I kind of got confused by Ken. He talked about the central computing cluster using shared processors and memory being first used in the future commercial BEV eta 2025-6. But then talks about the MME and new F150 and Broncos all having some central processing. He also mentioned that some central processing is needed to for 360 ADA. correct me if I am wrong, but sounds like true Level 3 will require at min.reduction to 2 modules where both modules used share memory. I didn’t catch what he said about the MME, F150, etc will have. But it would seem there are more modules and not all of them will share memory. So at best it would seem level 2++ would be max for them. It also sounded like they are still working on gaining the drivers attention for L3, which would probably require extra components within the vehicle that MME obviously would time have, since they don’t even know what it will yet.
 

macchiaz-o

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That last part -- about getting the driver's attention, was the most clear acknowledgement that none of the existing vehicles in development will have L3 automation as delivered from the factory.

The shared memory stuff... Not sure what he was getting at there. It could be that the networking architecture between the disparate compute devices in the vehicle isn't fast or reliable enough for some of the data fusion requirements. But who knows what those requirements are, exactly.

I found the recording difficult to listen to. The audio quality wasn't up to "podcast standards" (haha) and they didn't put their machines into do not disturb mode so we heard all kinds of notifications.
 
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ChasingCoral

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That last part -- about getting the driver's attention, was the most clear acknowledgement that none of the existing vehicles in development will have L3 autonomy as delivered from the factory.

The shared memory stuff... Not sure what he was getting at there. It could be that the networking architecture between the disparate compute devices in the vehicle isn't fast or reliable enough for some of the data fusion requirements. But who knows what those requirements are, exactly.

I found the recording difficult to listen to. The audio quality wasn't up to "podcast standards" (haha) and they didn't put their machines into do not disturb mode so we heard all kinds of notifications.
I came to the same conclusion you did @macchiaz-o. It seems more shared computing was needed to speed the reaction of the computing cluster.

While they didn't ask my question, which was explicitly if the MME would ever move to L3, I think you are right. They are not sure yet what would be needed to grab the driver's attention quickly enough to make it a true L3. Therefore, they can't know if the MME has all the hardware it needs.

My personal opinion is there is no way to assure that the vehicle can bring the driver's attention back in time, making true L3 a pipe dream and L2++ the maximum. I agree with many experts I've heard from that there will be no L3 as it makes more sense to jump from L2++ to L4. I also agree with the experts that there is no commercial vehicle on the road today that will ever be capable of L5 and will have severe limitations for L4, like specially equipped garages and other environments adapted to enable L4.

The audio on the original broadcast wasn't super clear (I listened live as it recorded). Some of those notifications may have been on my machine, too. I'm no expert on doing this.
 

macchiaz-o

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Over time, I've started to understand that the SAE levels aren't exactly a step up from one level to the next, but just different categories or labels of automation. And these levels can be different for different driving scenarios within that same vehicle. (E.g. based on geography or based on individual functions that are enabled or disabled.)

To me, it's unfortunate that we enthusiasts are even so aware of the SAE levels. It's led to lots of people conflating automation with autonomy -- I know that I make that mistake a lot while discussing it. And there are also people putting too much confidence in their car's ability to drive itself, which is a serious safety issue for everyone sharing the road with them.

Regarding the audio quality -- I'm sure it wasn't just your machine, Mark (if it even was at all), and without your effort, I wouldn't even have been able to hear the discussion. So I appreciate you doing this! I was just meaning to say that I'm sure how well I heard or comprehended the discussion because I had trouble focusing while listening to it.
 

ChasingCoral

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Over time, I've started to understand that the SAE levels aren't exactly a step up from one level to the next, but just different categories or labels of automation. And these levels can be different for different driving scenarios within that same vehicle. (E.g. based on geography or based on individual functions that are enabled or disabled.)
Agreed. There is no question that some applications of Level 4 (the Corktown garage, for example), are easier for the car than the level 2++ we will see in the Mach E.

Regarding the audio quality -- I'm sure it wasn't just your machine, Mark (if it even was at all), and without your effort, I wouldn't even have been able to hear the discussion. So I appreciate you doing this! I was just meaning to say that I'm sure how well I heard or comprehended the discussion because I had trouble focusing while listening to it.
Comments and critiques welcome @macchiaz-o! I'm no expert at this like @Mach-E VLOG. On top of that, my computer crashed a week ago and I just finished fully restoring it. I rushed yesterday morning to re-establish the webinar recording capability I had previously installed. As I listened to the webinar I cringed every time I heard my computer ding or doing as I wondered if they would be in the recording. However, I also heard a number of those coming from their computers.

Their webinar quality was low to begin with. I was shocked to have set up the ability to automatically record both audio and video only to find their video was a static intro slide. The presentation would have benefited from some slides to help communicate some of Washington's key points.
 

RonTCat

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Will the 2021 Mach E ever be able to do level 3 autonomous driving?
No. You need lidar. And yes, I know, Tesla does it without lidar, but they are also OK with randomly crashing vehicles into stationary objects, which is a non-starter.
Sponsored

 
 




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