How the 2013 Lincoln MKZ drives itself

[smithb]

How the 2013 Lincoln MKZ drives itself
[B]I’m not exaggerating. With very little fanfare, Lincoln now produces what might fairly be considered the first autonomous car.[/B
http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoram...163320831.html

The MKZ (and its Ford cousin, the Fusion) use a new system called Lane Keeper that literally steers the car down the road. A forward-looking camera mounted in the windshield mirror assembly reads lane markings and, if it determines you’re about to drift out of your lane, steers the car back toward the center of the lane. Other companies offer conceptually similar systems that attempt to do the same thing by dragging the brakes on one side of the car, but the Lincoln system is hugely more effective. You start to drift out of your lane, even going around a corner, and the steering wheel magically cranks over and points you back toward the centerline.

The MKZ also has adaptive cruise control that uses long-range forward radar to lock on the car in front of you and match its speed. So with cruise control activated, the MKZ is scanning the road for obstacles and braking if necessary, while Lane Keeper steers. Sure, the steering corrections are a little bit clumsy, but that comes down to programming—the system doesn’t step in until you’re heading out of your lane, but it wouldn’t take much tinkering to just keep you in the center of your lane in the first place.

I know GM was talking about self-driving Cadillacs by "mid decade", but they are beaten to the punch. I wonder if GM's system will use the steering wheel or the ABS. Since GM still doesn't have a self parking car, it will be a bigger leap to use steering vs braking.

[donmateo]

That's pretty cool. I'd love to see a video (or be hands on with it) in action.

[germeezy1]

Do they not understand that autonomous driving is simply not an intended purpose of a system specifically design to prevent lane wandering, and NOT to drive the actual car as is being suggested.

[Extreme4x4]

I believe that this is the link to the article with the video of it in action.

It is a pretty cool video.

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoram...163320831.html

[Mr. Burns]

I don't see how this is the first autonomous car. Lane keep assist with steering is available on other cars as is adaptive radar guided cruise control. Combine the two and theoretically you have an autonomous car, but it's not by design.

[germeezy1]

If Lincoln, and Mr. Farley continue to engineer via press release they will never be seen as a true competitor to Lexus unfortunately.

[jpd80]

If Lincoln, and Mr. Farley continue to engineer via press release they will never be seen as a true competitor to Lexus unfortunately.

Lighten up, it's just a bit of fun and good advertising for Lincoln.

When Lincoln tries to do something to change it's image, some people will always find fault, not good enough ect...
The fact is that these new Lincoln features are getting out to the eyes and ears of intended buyers and they like it.

[MCGARRETT]

I didn't even know that Lincoln was going to offer this on the MKZ, interesting. The MKZ does need an addition party piece to make up for some less than stellar reviews. Has the full adaptive cruise package come out for the XTS already, it was supposed to offer some sort of lane guidance too.

[dratnol]

If Lincoln, and Mr. Farley continue to engineer via press release they will never be seen as a true competitor to Lexus unfortunately.

If you would have simply read the article, you would have noted that Mr. Farley nor Lincoln had anything to do with it. But like most anything you reply to, you don't read the article or bring anything to the table aside from bias and trolling.

The reason you are not taken seriously is because you have no clue on what you are talking about 95% of the time. You just get your drum out and beat that same old biased mantra. Truth and facts could be right in front of you (and they are) but you are too blind to notice.

For somebody that is always bad mouthing Farley, you seem to be the very thing that you accuse him of.

[wescoent]

The MKZ does need an addition party piece to make up for some less than stellar reviews.

Yeah... how many of these reviews actually seriously evaluated the car, versus dumping on the Lincoln brand?

[germeezy1]

Lighten up, it's just a bit of fun and good advertising for Lincoln.

When Lincoln tries to do something to change it's image, some people will always find fault, not good enough ect...
The fact is that these new Lincoln features are getting out to the eyes and ears of intended buyers and they like it.

This article is incorrect at best, and misleading at worst when it makes assertions like " I’m not exaggerating. With very little fanfare, Lincoln now produces what might fairly be considered the first autonomous car ".

If you would have simply read the article, you would have noted that Mr. Farley nor Lincoln had anything to do with it. But like most anything you reply to, you don't read the article or bring anything to the table aside from bias and trolling.

The reason you are not taken seriously is because you have no clue on what you are talking about 95% of the time. You just get your drum out and beat that same old biased mantra. Truth and facts could be right in front of you (and they are) but you are too blind to notice.

For somebody that is always bad mouthing Farley, you seem to be the very thing that you accuse him of.

There is always an ignore button for those that prefer to not be illuminated. I know that Farley did not write the article , and my assertion was made based on Lincoln engineering via press release directly or indirectly, and this piece being more of the same.

" IF THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE WHAT WILL A LIE DO ? "

[germeezy1]

Manufacturers are working on systems that are actually designed to allow autonomous driving, and at this present time this system is not.

[jpd80]

Manufacturers are working on systems that are actually designed to allow autonomous driving, and at this present time this system is not.

Double standard?
Lexus and VW present to accolades at Detroit, Lincoln does same through news reports and is branded as engineering ia media release.

Not utterly divergent from sour grapes?

Something that missed most people's attention was that apart from Town Car (deceased)
every other Lincoln model increased sales last year, the MKT scoring a 40% increase but
none the less falling short of filling th deposed TC.

[germeezy1]

Double standard?
Lexus and VW present to accolades at Detroit, Lincoln does same through news reports and is branded as engineering ia media release.

Not utterly divergent from sour grapes?

Something that missed most people's attention was that apart from Town Car (deceased)
every other Lincoln model increased sales last year, the MKT scoring a 40% increase but
none the less falling short of filling th deposed TC.

This article claims two things which are quite erroneous without even fully reading the article so no I prefer my grapes quite sweet. Also this article was not written by Lincoln or Farley, and my mention of engineering by press release is in relation to the rampant press releases coming from Lincoln especially considering as of today they have one new vehicle. You may not believe this but FORD is also working on an autonomous cruise system, and quite frankly this is not it.

[Extreme4x4]

So what??

Ford did not state it was. The guy who made the video did. You have a problem with it, contact the writer of the article/video maker.

Stop coming in every Lincoln thread and bitching about Ford/Lincoln/Farley engineering by press release. We get it. You think Lincoln sucks. You think Ford sucks. You think Fords handling of Lincoln sucks, and you think Farley sucks. All of your wax eloquant phrasing, and cute catch phrases do nothing to disguise your complete and total dislike of everything that has anything to do with Lincoln.

Believe it or not, you are not fooling anyone.

I can't believe it, but I am actually considering using the ignore button. Amazing.