Hitching Powder: Ford trucks to use AI to hook up trailers

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There’s immutable proof that the number of people watching you trying to hook up a trailer will be directly proportional to the difficulty of the maneuver. Snagged that camper on the first try, you say? We’ll guarantee there was no one around to witness the feat.

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Ford intends to remove some of this drama with a new feature which includes innovation from the current darling of techonology: artificial intelligence. Set to be called Pro Trailer Hitch Assist, it’ll debut on F-Series pickups and use computer vision plus machine learning to automatically back up and align a truck’s hitch ball to a conventional trailer coupler — all with the push of a button.

Tools to help have been around for years, most notably in the form of backup cameras with either different viewing angles or an on-screen dotted line estimating the vehicle trajectory. This new tech uses both the rear camera and corner radars, working together to align the hitch with the trailer coupler whist also controlling the truck’s speed, steering, and braking to stop at just the right spot.

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To activate the tool, drivers must first mash a button located in the centre of the truck’s Pro Trailer Backup Assist dial. The system is designed to then peer rearward, detecting the hitch ball and trailer coupler at distances up to about 20 feet (six metres). As the truck uses control algorithms to reverse and steer itself towards the trailer, the tech determines the best path to follow. The intent is to line the truck up so the hitch ball is positioned where it needs to be under the trailer coupler.

Drivers aren’t completely off the hook, as they still need to make sure the trailer tongue is higher than the drawbar ball. This suggests the system is better, for now, at reading the lay of the land horizontally than vertically. This new Pro Trailer Hitch Assist should pair well with Pro Trailer Backup Assist, the latter having been around for a few years using similar onboard cameras and sensors to help drivers reverse a trailer into tight spots.

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Of course, there will be Luddites in our audience who’ll surely opine that anyone who can’t hitch up a trailer blindfolded underwater whilst upside-down and on fire shouldn’t be anywhere near a trailer in the first place. Your author encourages these Neanderthals to go back to their caves and continue searching for woolly mammoths.

If ya don’t like the tech, that’s what the “Off” button is for. The rest of us will enjoy hitching up our campers in jig time while you curse a blue streak and mash yer fingers in the coupler.

Pro Trailer Hitch Assist will be available on the Ford F-150, F-150 Lightning, and Super Duty.