Ford Co-Pilot360 Could Mean No More Backseat Drivers
You know the type. The one who sits in the backseat of the car — or, more frustratingly, the front seat — waving their hands wildly in front of them whenever a vehicle ahead of you changes lanes suddenly or slows down. You’re confident in your driving, but it gets to a point where you have to look over and say, hey, mom, y’know, could you cool it? I’m paying attention. I’ve been driving for like two decades now. But it’s never good enough. Is it, mom?
Anyway, Ford is wanting to put an end to that whole thing, mercifully, with Ford Co-Pilot360. The suite of driver-assistive safety technologies is quickly becoming standard across the Ford lineup — including in the new 2020 Ford Expedition — acting as an extra set of eyes and ears (and, in the case of Pre-Collision Assist with Automatic Emergency Braking, feet) that work to keep you safe and less annoyed.
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Supporting this, Ford conducted a study with sociologist Jess Carbino that showed 68 percent of drivers believe that driver-assistive technology might help lead to a world of no more backseat drivers. We’d like to believe that, but some habits die hard.
“For a lot of drivers, constantly getting advice from passengers is more than just annoying, it’s stressful,” Carbino said. “The Ford Co-Pilot360 helps encourage trust during the drive and can help create a more relaxed, collaborative atmosphere in the car.”
Yes, it is very annoying, isn’t it? It’s annoying to have to constantly justify lane changes or assure someone that you see the person in your blind spot. But perhaps with more readily available driver-assist features, we won’t have to worry about that so much and can just get back to asking mom to stop farting with the windows up. It’s like, I love you, but could you not?
“Certainly the intent of Ford Co-Pilot360 Technology was not to eliminate backseat driving,” said Chris Billman, Ford Co-Pilot360 engineering manager. “But hey, if we can help in that way too, that’s great!”
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.