Blind spot beater for all Fords

Bosses at Ford want to bring blind-spot detection to all their cars

Auto Express Car Reviews

By Max Glaskin

07th February 2007

The company has plans for a clever way to automatically check if there are any vehicles lurking out of sight, and the idea has been awarded a patent.

It works by detecting subtle disruptions to the earth's magnetic field. This invisible force bathes everything on the planet, but it can be 'seen' by special - low-cost - sensors.

They can be programmed to reveal when the normal background pattern of the magnetic field is affected when anything containing iron, such as a car, moves through it. The set-up's attraction is its budget price. Volvo, part of the Ford family, uses expensive smart cameras for its BLIS blind-spot detectors.

The challenge facing the blue oval research lab in Dearborn, Michigan, US, is to tune the sensors so finely they can recognise pattern shifts caused by moving vehicles.

Then, the sensors will be fitted to cars, and alert the driver if something is just out of the view of their mirrors with an audible warning. What's more, pre-crash safety systems, such as tensioning seatbelts, could also be activated.