Remember the driver disguised as a car seat? That helped Ford develop a self-driving ‘language.’

That man who dressed as a car seat to make it look like he was in a self-driving car last year was, in fact, not a terrible Halloween costume, but part of a study for Ford’s self-driving cars. 

At the time, pesky reporters quickly uncovered that the disguised driver was with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. Now we also know that that covert driving attire was to help Ford’s self-driving car team shape a “common language” for cars to “talk” to pedestrians and other people on the road.

This all came out this week when Ford released its self-driving safety report, in which it explained how the “simulated” autonomous experiences with the disguised driver in a seat suit led to its windshield light bar, which lights up with different patterns to show what it the car is doing. A back-and-forth white light means the car is yielding. When the car is about to go, the white light quickly blinks. Ford said it’s trying to find a way to communicate that doesn’t use text. Read more…

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