Ford has begun testing a feature named Geofencing SpeedLimit Control in Köln, Germany, which lets cars automatically determine the speed limits of the area and adjust power accordingly.
The technology has nothing to do with traffic sign recognition and instead relies on highly accurate navigation software that receives real-time updates. Ford says it will divide the road maps into virtual speed zones based on actual limits in those areas and instruct the vehicles to abide by these limits.
As soon as the car crosses the border of such a zone, it notifies the driver about it and automatically drops the speed to be within the allowed limit. Drivers can also manually set limitations for different zones themselves, although only a specific list of areas will be supported in each case.
The testing is already running on two e-Transits and has the official approval of Köln authorities. The experiment will be over before March 2023. Whether the innovation will spread to all transports or be limited to just the commercial transports remains unclear at this time.