I knew a guy who dumped his whole tow rig into the Delaware River after he forgot to set the parking brake while unloading a boat at a ramp. That’s one example of the sort of headaches that can result from trailering. Simply hooking the trailer to your tow rig can be an exercise in try-fail-repeat frustration. Just yesterday, at the New York International Auto Show, the Ford Motor Company unveiled a sophisticated new system that will allow your pickup to practically hitch up the trailer for you.
The Pro Trailer Hitch Assist, as Ford is calling it, is a completely new driver-aid technology for which Dearborn has already earned more than 60 U.S. patents. It uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer vision, as you can see here, to clean back the truck up to the trailer and position it at the hitch assembly simply by pushing a button on the dash. It automatically controls the truck’s reverse speed, steering and braking to make sure it ends up in the right place and thereby limits the operator’s need to intone colorful language out of frustration. Pro Trailer Hitch Assist is a new option for the Ford F-150, the electric F-150 Lightning and the Super Duty.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 