NEW YORK—Ford's new AI-assisted trailer hookup, unveiled here at the New York International Auto Show, aims to "stop the yelling and end the frustration" that notoriously accompanies the tricky task of aligning a hitch ball with an RV or trailer behind it.
At the push of a button, the system "automatically controls the truck’s speed, steering and braking to make sure the trailer hitch ball is directly under a trailer coupler so the two can be physically joined," Ford says. Drivers can monitor the progress on the center dash, much like an autonomous parallel parking function.
"This technology was developed in-house by Ford’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) team, not a third-party company, which can often be the case," says Alan Hall, director of technology communications at Ford. "Since it's ours, it's not something another company can bring to market and there's real significance to that."
Ford secured 60 patents for the technology, with four more pending. Hall says not all patents were used in the final product, but were created in the process and can be applied to multiple autonomous driving functions in the future.
Ford Pro Trailer Hitch Assist only works on F-Series trucks, and relies on the rear cameras (computer vision), two corner radars, and artificial intelligence.
"As the truck backs up to the trailer, the system figures out the best path to follow," Ford says. "Computer vision is used to precisely detect both the hitch ball and trailer. The truck’s control algorithms steer the truck to line up so that the truck’s hitch ball can be positioned directly under the trailer’s coupler."
"The hardest part is identifying the trailer, and the right trailer if you're in a boatyard, for example," Hall says.
The feature is now available on the 2023 F-150, 2023 F-150 Lightning, and the all-new 2023 F-Series Super Duty. Hall says it will be pushed out via an over-the-air update to all 2021-22 F-Series trucks shortly. The vehicles must also be equipped with Pro Trailer Backup Assist, a customer upgrade that launched two years ago and serves as the foundation for the new feature.