What does it take to retrofit an F-150 2021+ with adaptive cruise control? (openpilot)

incognitojam · 9 October 2022 05:52

Hi all,

I’m working on adding support for Ford vehicles to openpilot

openpilot works by replacing the stock camera (in our case the IPMA) to provide what is essentially lane centering and adaptive cruise control (ACC), but it can operate in places without clear lane lines and on other supported vehicles it can slows down for turns, and stop at stop signs and traffic lights! Right now, I’ve only added steering support for Fords and the stock ACC is still controlling acceleration/brakes.

I’m in the process of adding support for the Focus 2019+ (Mk4), Kuga 2019+/Escape 2020+, Maverick 2022+ and Explorer 2020+ and currently I’m helping someone get their kit setup in an F-150 2021. There is a lot of interest in adding support for the F-150 since it is a top seller, but I was wondering of the 700,000 sold in 2021 how many of those could actually be supported?

I know that the required package for ACC (“Co-Pilot360 Assist 2.0”) is optional on XLT and above, but theoretically, as long as the vehicle has the necessary hardware, lower trims or those without the extra package might be able to configure the modules to accept lane centering/ACC commands.

My Focus Mk4 (late 2018) has a manual transmission and did not come with adaptive cruise control from the factory (I think it was the Zetec trim?). But it did have a radar for some reason, which I assume was for FCW, so by replacing the buttons on the steering wheel and configuring some modules using Forscan I was able to get stock adaptive cruise control!
I also enabled “Lane Centering” (sometimes called Traffic Jam Assist) in the PSCM As-Built Data so that it would accept steering messages from openpilot. I tried enabling this in the IPMA too so that I could try out the stock lane centering, but it always faulted the module.

One issue I have is in knowing whether or not the brake module is actually rated for continuous use, especially if it needs to apply a lot of braking force on the motorway. The retrofit guide on the Ford Escape forum shows the difference between two brake modules, one with and one without the electronic brake booster. I’m not confident that the ABS module in my Focus is really suited for ACC, but I need help to know how we can determine which are safe to use.
If it turns out that all new F-150s come with electronic brake boosters, openpilot could support all of them!

Please let me know if you know more about which vehicles have electronic brake boosters, and I’m happy to answer any questions about openpilot too!