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Ford's 'self-driving' Postmates test actually has a driver at the wheel
The next time you order food from Postmates in Miami or Miami Beach, don't be too surprised if you have to grab your Cuban sandwiches from what looks like a self-driving van. Ford's latest autonomous delivery test is underway, as the automaker has partnered with Postmates to bring you goods from more than 70 local businesses. But there's actually a driver behind the tinted windows -- Ford says the Transit Connects give the appearance that they're autonomous vehicles.
Ford wants self-driving cars to communicate with flashing lights
Here's a question: how does a self-driving car reveal its intentions to you without an audio cue? Humans can gesture when they let you cross the street, but autonomous vehicles don't have that luxury. Ford and Virginia Tech think they have the answer. They're testing a communication method that uses light signals from dedicated strips to indicate what self-driving cars are doing. If a driverless machine is yielding, for example, it could flash two white lights side to side. Ford has also developed cues for launching from a stop (a rapidly blinking white light) and an autonomous mode (a solid white light).
Chevy Volts invade NYC police fleet, give cops all new ways to taze bros
New York's boys in blue will soon be able to creep up on evildoers with even more subtlety, thanks to some new electrified vehicles the city unveiled yesterday. As part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's environmentally-friendly PlaNYC initiative, 70 new EVs have been added to the city's fleet of public cars, in the hopes of lowering emissions and creating a "greener, greater New York City." Joining the force are ten Ford Transit Connect cargo vans, ten Navi-star E-star trucks and a full 50 Chevy Volts -- some of which will be used as NYPD squad cars. These newcomers will be shared among nine different departments, joining 360 other city plug-ins already purring their way across the five boroughs. Bloomberg is also working toward adding EVs to New York's army of 13,000 taxis -- which we're totally cool with, as long as they're not minivans. Zip past the break for a rather Homeric press release.
Looking back at Ford's EV past, forward to the 2012 Focus Electric and a 2013 plug-in hybrid
Did you know that Ford's first electric car, the Comuta, was released way back in 1967? It was a perfectly goofy looking thing, with a top speed of 37mph and a range of 40 miles -- if you didn't go near that top speed. More of a concept than anything, only a handful were made available for sale, and at this point it certainly looks like the company's immediate plans for EVs are similarly conservative. DailyTech pulled together an analysis of Ford's future offerings in the electric and plug-in hybrid space and it's obvious the Blue Oval is taking its time making sure the EV water is warm before jumping in. First up is the Transit Connect, a 100 mile range electric van intended for fleet use and, with a price well north of $30,000, not expected to sell in droves. Next will be the Focus Electric, due next year and, while this one will be substantially cheaper and more consumer-friendly, Ford execs expect it too will have low demand. The primary reason for this is that Ford still believes that pure EVs are not ready for mainstream adoption, with battery technology unable to provide reliable power at the range of temperatures people actually want to go somewhere. The Focus Electric mitigates this with both liquid heating and cooling, but for now the company thinks the best mix is a traditional, power-split hybrid, where the gas engine can drive the wheels if the batteries can't cope. That's unlike the Chevy Volt, which is only driven by batteries. To this end Ford has a new, mystery plug-in hybrid vehicle coming in 2012. What kind of car? All we know is it's "not a Focus." That can mean only one thing: F-350 Super Duty PHEV edition. [Photo credit: Ford Motor Company]
Coulomb partners with Ford, Chevy, Smart to deliver 4,600 free EV charging stations in US
Looks like Australia and Poland were just the beginning: Coulomb Technologies is looking to roll out nearly 5,000 electric vehicle charging stations in the US, effective immediately. If one of those cherry-red push pins is pointed at your neighborhood, you'll likely see the stations popping up at local businesses soon, and if you're looking to purchase a Chevy Volt, Tesla-powered Smart or one of Ford's two new EVs, you can even qualify to have a free station installed in your home. Partially paid for by a $15 million grant from the Department of Energy, the ChargePoint America program won't necessarily give you free electricity to go with it -- that "charge" in ChargePoint has a double meaning, after all -- but we're happy to see the zero-emissions future is finally on a roll. PR after the break.
Ford's electric Transit Connect has the power to move you -- and all your stuff
Electric vehicles are great, but they tend to be tiny, cute, and generally rather useless for people who have things that need to be taken places. That's not the case with Ford's distinctively non-cute Transit Connect, a van of the type you typically see shuttling flowers and other small goods around urban streets. This one, however, runs entirely on battery power (a first for Ford) despite being able to haul 1,760 pounds of cargo to a maximum range of 100 miles -- on the high side for your average EV but perhaps not enough for a day's worth of deliveries. No word in pricing, but expect these to start showing up at Ford dealerships sometime next year, frequently in white.Update: Commenter ericlmccormic clued us in to the earlier Ford Ranger EV that was offered up until 2002 -- before being summarily recalled and destroyed. Big Oil conspiracy theorists take note!Update 2: A few commenters mentioned that not all the Ranger EVs were decommissioned; some lived out their days well past 2002, happily delivering smiles to children and in no way taking part in any fuel-based schemes.
