Ford innovates using pedestrian Bluetooth to alert drivers

Smartphones are fast becoming more connected to cars, with the latest Apple iPhone and Apple Watch capable of detecting a crash and calling for help.

Now, Ford is taking smartphone integration to a new level, according to a new report by Carbuzz, an online auto news portal.

Ford’s latest experimental solution could offer pedestrians a mobile app to better alert motorists to their presence. The technology would use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and complement the company’s Co-Pilot360 system.

The automaker is involved in a research project that will help keep pedestrians and cyclists safer by using their smartphones to better spot them on the road, even when cameras, radar, and LiDAR can’t see them. the Blue Oval, an authority on Ford, states.

The automaker is doing this in collaboration with Commsignia, PSS, Ohio State University, T-Mobile, and Tome Software.

The idea is that the Bluetooth signal emitted by a smartphone would act as a beacon that the Ford vehicle would be able to detect without the vehicle’s SYNC infotainment system even pairing with that device.

It is noted that because Bluetooth radio waves do not rely on line-of-sight detection like cameras or radar, it would be possible to detect a potential accident even when the individual or cyclist is hidden behind a building or other obstruction.

This initiative from Ford is considered a great idea because Bluetooth low energy technology is already widely used in innumerable gadgets and devices, the basic infrastructure to make this work already exists.

It also would not require any hardware changes to new Ford vehicles that introduce this new form of pedestrian and bicyclist detection technology.

The system, according to Ford, is capable of differentiating between pedestrians, cyclists, and others based on their travelling speed and can continually evaluate their risk by monitoring their direction of travel.

For the idea to work, the pedestrian or cyclist is required to have Bluetooth active.

Executive Director, Research and Advanced Engineering, Jim Buczkowski, said, “Newer Ford vehicles already with Ford Co-Pilot360 Technology can detect and help warn drivers of pedestrians, bicyclists, scooter riders and others – and even apply brakes if drivers do not respond in time.

“We are now exploring ways to expand vehicle sensing capability for areas drivers cannot see, to help people drive even more confidently on roads increasingly shared by others using their two feet or two wheels.”

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s data estimates that traffic fatalities increased 13% in 2021 compared to the year before, while bicyclist traffic fatalities have increased 5% to 1,000 in the same period, and 2022 is already looking worse.