Ford fitted a guy in one awesome car seat disguise in order to camouflage a Ford Transit into a real self-driving vehicle. The reason for this experiment is to determine how other drivers, passers-by and cyclists would react to sharing the streets with a self-driving vehicle. This experiment was done in collaboration with a Tech Transportation Institute based in Virginia. They also mounted a light bar on the windshield in order to deliver technical information about what the vehicle was doing. This information is consisted of accelerating from a complete stop, driving autonomously and yielding.
When it comes to real-world testing an autonomous vehicle, you still need a real driver behind the wheel. That`s why Ford came up with this ingenious disguise and managed to surprise a lot of people.
As for the mounted light bar on the windshield, it neatly tells everyone what it will do next. Ford has stated that this method might change the unspoken rules when it comes to road communication between drivers. We presume that when you see a car without a driver for the first time, you are more than likely to be terrified. Having said that, most of the witnesses who saw this seemingly self-driving vehicle were confused and startled at the same time. No one would presume that there is actually a driver in a car seat disguise inside the car as the costume is very neatly done. We also think this is the perfect and most creative costume for Halloween. As autonomous vehicles are still not in production, all of the witnesses will think this is a haunted car.
Moreover, the undercover Tesla 3 vehicle was caught on camera!
