Ford has moved a step closer in its plans to make autonomous
vehicles after it was granted a patent for a car with a fully removable
steering wheel and foot pedals.
The US car giant's design would allow the steering wheel to
be removed from the vehicle, placing the air bag in a compartment in front of
what was the driver's seat.
Ford said the steering wheel, which would be refitted if
needed for tasks such as testing the car, could be an optional extra in future.
"[The removable wheel] enables the easy provision of a
steering wheel as a customer-requested option," the company said in the
patent.
The designs are part of Ford's long term plans to remove
steering wheels from its self-driving cars. The company hopes to create a fully
autonomous car that doesn't require a human driver.
Semi-autonomous features, such as Tesla's autopilot, have
resulted in drivers testing self-driving systems to their limits. Ford has
previously said fully removing the driver will create a safer driverless car.
The big players | Driverless cars
Google
The internet giant announced that it was developing
driverless cars in 2009 and began testing them on California’s roads in 2012.
In February 2016, Google said it bore “some responsibility” after one of its
self-driving cars struck a bus in a minor crash. Before that, its vehicles had
driven more than one million miles without an incident that was the car’s
fault, according to the company. Google has said it plans to make its cars
available to the public in 2020
Daimler
Believed by many industry experts to be the closest to
bringing a fully autonomous car to market. The manufacturer, which owns
Mercedes, has spent years developing self-driving features for its high-end
models. “Time and space will become the luxury goods of the future ,” lead
engineer Ralf Herrtwich told Robotics & Automation News in April 2016
Ford
The American motor giant is keen to show it is at the
forefront of developing new car technology and says its cars have equalled
Google in reaching “level 4” autonomy. Ford has been rumoured to be in
discussions with Google about a tie-up on driverless tech
Tesla
An icon of the electric car movement, Tesla has also been
rapidly adding semi-autonomous technology to its high-end vehicles. This
includes autopilot, which allows cars to navigate by themselves in many
scenarios, as well as Summon, which allows Tesla owners to order cars to their
door via a smartphone. In October 2016, Tesla said self-driving technology
would be in all cars
Uber
The future of Uber’s ride-hailing app could be cars that get
you between points without needing a driver, a scenario that could dramatically
bring down prices. The company has hired driverless car experts from Carnegie
Mellon University for a special unit, and is now testing cars in Pittsburgh
Volvo
Volvo is trialling self-driving technology in Sweden and
plans to do so in London in 2018, before the technology becomes mainstream in
the next decade. It has committed to nobody being killed or seriously injured
in any Volvo sold from 2020
Apple
Apple is believed to have been secretly developing electric
car technology for some time, and to have considered investments in several car
companies. Recently, however, its plans appeared to have stalled and it is now
working on developing software for other manufacturers
Ford does not expect to profit from autonomous cars until
2021. Earlier this year, the company announced a $1bn (£800m) investment in
Argo AI, an artificial intelligence company that will produce the software
needed for a new generation of self-driving cars.
Major car and tech companies are preparing for the dawn of
self-driving cars. Fiat Chrysler recently entered into a self-driving car
alliance with BMW and Intel, while major tech companies Google and Uber have
been battling over the technology.
