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Ford's latest idea: a computer under the seat
Novel concept: a black box that's black
May 22, 1997
Web posted at: 11:51 p.m. EDT (0351 GMT)From Correspondent Ed Garsten
DETROIT (CNN) -- The Ford Motor Company is working on an idea that will allow it to design cars and trucks that match the driving styles of its customers.
The secret -- and the name may ring a bell -- is a black box tucked under the back seat.
"The module is a little computer," says Ford engineer Brian Mahoney. "As a customer drives along, we can basically listen to what the car is saying, and we take that data and send it back to Dearborn (Ford headquarters).
"We look at anything from range to engine speed, vehicle speed, throttle positions ... "
Once back at the lab, engineers take the box and transfer the information into a computer. They can then determine such things as how long the car has been driven, the distance it went, the throttle positions used and so forth.
Ford is placing about 200 boxes in cars and trucks in the United States and Canada, but it has no plans to put them in production vehicles. The idea is to use the information they gain to produce vehicles that better match each driver's style.
Goal is to predict vehicle troubles
But Cosworth, the company that developed the box, says it can be used to predict and prevent problems.
"After you build a history of these conditions occurring, you can probably predict what's gonna happen, and you better take your car in very shortly," said Scott Nofzinger of Cosworth Intelligent Controls.
That's one of the things that make these boxes different from those used in airliners. The boxes for vehicles are designed to help prevent problems, not diagnose why they have already happened, as in the case of plane crashes.
The other thing that makes the boxes different from those on planes -- those boxes are actually orange -- is that the vehicle boxes really are black.
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