Ford’s innovative truck was equipped with the Level-4 Highway Pilot system. This system enables autonomous transport operations between logistics centres, improving safety, efficiency, and sustainability in transport.
‘The Advanced Technology Tests once again demonstrate the significant engineering and technological successes that Turkey can achieve. The Level-4 Highway Pilot technology, which we have been working on for nearly four years, is one of the key projects supporting our ambition to transform transport. With it, we have made significant progress in highway transport, and our goal is to enable fully autonomous transport operations by our trucks,’ said Emrah Duman, vice president of Ford Trucks, after the testing.
Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, also participated in the tests. ‘These highway tests are a milestone in the development of autonomous transport. I believe that Ford Trucks’ project, the first of its kind in our country, will contribute to the further development of autonomous vehicles,’ Uraloğlu commented on the tests. He added that he hoped the knowledge and experience gained would benefit all parties involved in the project.
Level-4 highway pilot
Developed with motorway transport in mind, the Level-4 Highway Pilot successfully performs key driving manoeuvres, including lane keeping, adjusting speed and distance from the vehicle ahead, monitoring side lanes, changing lanes when necessary, and returning to the original lane, as well as stop-and-go manoeuvres. The system detects its surroundings using advanced sensors installed on the tractor, plans its movements, and performs manoeuvres along a predefined route. This technology uses software responsible for sensing, locating, modelling the environment, making decisions, planning the journey, and controlling the vehicle.
The use of an autonomous driving system can also bring tangible economic benefits. This cutting-edge technology increases efficiency by extending the vehicle’s daily operating time. Additionally, it is possible to reduce fuel consumption through optimised operations by up to 10 per cent. Autonomous vehicles could also help address the truck driver shortage.
Next public road tests
Ford Trucks has been working on the Level-4 Highway Pilot project since 2020. Ford Otosan engineers have integrated the artificial intelligence and robotics algorithms they developed into a comprehensive software architecture, completing the necessary verifications and tests in both a simulated environment and on vehicles driving on a highway closed to traffic. This included technology that ICA, the operator of the Selim Grozny Bridge and Northern Ring motorway, refers to as Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). Ford’s autonomous system successfully passed all tests on the closed route. The development and verification work on the Level-4 Highway Pilot has led to the system being able to handle 90 per cent of a truck driver’s daily driving tasks. It can also operate without driver assistance under normal conditions.
In the next phase, the Ford Trucks Level-4 Highway Pilot will begin its first test drives on public highways with a safety driver. These test drives will help identify and analyse various scenarios while developing new behavioural sets for each stage of the road, including approaching the safety lane, driving at night, adapting to adverse weather conditions, and handling emergency manoeuvres.