Hot on the heels of the Ford Edge Concept we saw at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Ford recently revealed a real, working version of a car that can not only park itself, but drive itself as well. This is thanks to what is essentially a laser-guidance system called Light Detection and Ranging (“LiDAR” for short). 

See those cones on the Fusion Hybrid pictured? Each one contains eight separate lasers that are constantly scanning the surroundings of the car, with a swept area of 100 meters. Each laser is capable of transmitting 7,000 data points per second, taking into account the car’s surroundings and literally creating a 3D map of the world. Ford says that the satellite technology will help future drivers in gridlock, as the lasers take into account surrounding vehicles. It doesn’t stop there; the lasers can detect people and buildings, and display them on a laptop tethered to the car. This, ostensibly, would be changed to a more practical in-car monitor mounted in the car’s centre stack.

It was quite something to be standing beside the car, only to look up at the large screen they had on-hand and see the virtual image of yourself there. Wave, and watch as your virtual-self waves back. 

The theory is simply thus: the lasers can see all around, all at once while the human eye can only focus on a certain focal point. It sounds like it should be a safer way to go, right? 

Perhaps, but the Ford folks on-hand were adamant that they weren’t out to win the driverless car sweepstakes, but to use the prototype as a showcase for their suite of autonomous driver aids that will make appearances in future Ford vehicles.