we're here at the 2015 state fair of texas where we've just seen from ford the
world premiere of the new super duties
the 2017 super duties for the first time
if you haven't seen our video yet a pickup trucks . com make sure you see it
plenty of new technology and all new truck and very impressive at that
but one of the coolest technologies that we found on this new super duty is in
the towing department in fact seven different cameras are now being used in
order to make it safer for us to toe small or big loads and who i have here
with me now is jennifer shaw Jennifer give me your title and talk to me about
how this technology got into the super duty
so I'm the driver assistance electronic supervisor at forward and when we first
started thinking about what technology we wanted to put in the new super duty a
few years ago we really focused on our customer
so what does this specific towing customer really need you can throw a lot
of technology at a product but what we want is for it to be useful for this
customer
we know that they're very proficient at towing they do a lot of it and so we
tried to think about how we could use cameras and radar and various other
technologies to really help them with towing
so so talk to us about that radar and camera is how many cameras are on this
are possible to be on this new super duty up to seven cameras so it's so
we're at it let's let's count through this
ok so there's one in the front grill that's a forward facing camera provides
a wide angle view so you can see around corners
it's also used in our 360 degree camera system there is one camera in each side
view mirror of those cameras of three
yes that's three those cameras are not only used for 360 camera but they're
used for an all new feature that we call trailer reverse guidance and that allows
you to see some extended views of your trailer as you're backing up then we
have number four which is the forward-facing camera up in the rearview
mirror which is used for in departure warning system
ok so that but that's not actually one that I can correct use because that's
one of the features is that I'm able for the forward camera and the tailgate
camera i can zoom in
and zoom out right that the lane departure warning camera is something
that the driver will never actually see an image from but it's always working
its do using machine vision to look at the lines on the road and help you keep
yourself and it just communicate with the computer and takes care of the
driver and passengers yep
ok so i think that gets us before that's right
so camera number five is our chisel camera so we have a camera package in
the center high-mounted stop lamp and that's looking into the bed of the truck
it's also great for hitching a fifth wheel or gooseneck trailer
it's actually has a special dynamic guideline on the camera image that will
help you when you're hitching up your fifth wheel or gooseneck ok so we still
have two more to go out so there's your rear-view camera in the tailgate
it's very similar to what you see today but you've got there your dynamic
guidelines to help with backing up into your conventional trailer
you've got zoom like you mentioned I'm and then the last camera is the trailer
camera
so this is a camera that you can mount onto the back of your trailer and it
seamlessly integrated in with the infotainment system in the truck
so with a touch of a button on the touch screen you can see now what's behind
your trailer
I not just what's behind your drops it so how does that camera communicate with
the the actual truck is that a plug-in through the trailer hitch is that a
napper it so it's a wired system so you plug it in through the connector at the
back of your truck
but the system will come with a bracket and the camera on the wiring so it's
really plug and play for the customer they just mounted onto the back of their
trailer and they're good to go
very interesting is there anything about the plug itself that wouldn't allow more
cameras why can't i have a camera inside my trailer to keep an eye on
well we're always looking to the future and you know potentially maybe in the
future we would do something like that right now it's the seven cameras that we
talked about with the last one being the one of the back of the trailer so that
that connector is designed for the additional trailer camera that sounds
excellent we can't wait to get in a truck and give it a test and see how
much safer this new technology is going to be a 360 view for a heavy-duty pickup
truck is pretty interesting and unique
yeah absolutely we think it's gonna be really helpful for our customers on
their job sites you know a lot of times there's stuff all around on the ground
you want to make sure you're not driving over it
I'm so for that this customer the heavy-duty customer it's going to be for
their work really more than parking and that sort of thing we want to thank
jennifer shaw and her team for bringing this technology to this new super duty
no other vehicle on the segment has it no other pickup truck in the US has it
and very few vehicles on the planet have seven cameras available for that vehicle
if you want to know more about this new 2017 super duty or any other pickup
truck sold in the US
go to pick up trucks . com
yeah