In my experience, speeding tickets always happen when you least expect it. You relax a bit while driving and your foot rests a little too heavily on the gas pedal. Next thing you know, a camera flashes or flashing lights appear in your rear view mirror. Such occurrences could be a thing of the past if Ford's Intelligent Speed Limiter (ISL) system becomes a standard feature, though.
According to Green Car Congress, Ford is introducing its ISL system across Europe, where it will be available for the Kuga, Edge, S-Max, Galaxy, and new models of Fiesta. It offers two options. The first is an adjustable speed limiter the driver can set manually to limit speed to a predefined maximum. That can only do so much, though, as the speed limit can change often during a journey.
The second option is called Traffic Sign Recognition. It allows the car to automatically adjust the upper speed limit based on the traffic signs it detects. If the vehicle also includes onboard navigation, that information is used to better select the maximum speed. There is then a 5mph tolerance around that limit.
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Using the vehicle's brakes to lower speed automatically when the maximum is passed wouldn't make for a very pleasant journey. Instead, Ford adjusts the amount of fuel delivered to the engine in order to control torque. By doing so, the speed can be lowered smoothly and without the driver having to do anything beyond realizing they were going too fast. It is possible to override the system by pressing the gas pedal down hard, but that's only a temporary relief when a bit of extra speed is necessary.
According to Stefan Kappes, active safety supervisor at Ford of Europe, the ISL system is proving popular because drivers hate getting speeding tickets.
Ford developed the ISL system in 2015 and first deployed it in the UK on the S-Max. When Car Magazine reviewed it last year, they concluded it definitely worked as a "handy safety net," but the accuracy needed to be improved. Now the system is being made available to more models in more countries, the extra data generated should help Ford continue to tweak and improve the system.