What Ford did next

The company that first mobilised the world is rethinking mobility. Alongside hyper hatches and Le Mans-ready performance cars the Blue Oval is also talking up bicycles, car-sharing and full autonomy NO PERSON DID more to mobilise the masses in the early days of the automobile than Henry Ford. Now the company he founded is broadening its focus from cars to smart mobility – with the ultimate aim of delivering next-level connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, customer experience and big data. Before your eyes gloss over and your mind begins to wander back to thrashing the new Focus RS around an empty race track, consider this… our cities already face serious traffic congestion, China is adding one megacity (population 10 million plus) every year and that humans are projected to number as many as 10 billion by 2050. Thinking about solutions for smart mobility now seems pretty essential. How we use our cars is about to change forever. No need for panic though, just as our phones aren’t just phones anymore, so cars too will become smart mobility devices. ‘We now are moving from experimentation to implementation,’ said Mark Fields, Ford president and CEO, at the recent Further with Ford trends conference in San Francisco. ‘Our goal is to make people’s lives better by helping them more easily navigate through their day, address societal issues and, over time, change the way the world moves – just as Henry Ford did more than 100 years ago.’ During the last six months Ford has been asking some key questions: Would you rent out your Ford Creditfinanced car to prescreened clients to offset monthly ownership costs?Are you happy to ride in an autonomous car that doesn’t have a steering wheel? How do you feel about on-demand pay-asyou- go car sharing with guaranteed parking? Would you swap your car for an eBike if it could sense trucks approaching from behind, offered eyes-free navigation, plus health and fitness info? Would you trust car parts grown in a printer? Whatever your answers, the automobile world is changing fast. Here are the pick of the innovative ideas and areas Ford r&d is involved in right now.

WEARABLE TECH
MyFord Mobile app allows customers to check the driving range and battery charge of their plug-in hybrid or electric vehicle from their wrists before they leave on a trip or just to locate their parked car. Remote Park via smartwatch also in the works for tight spots.

3D PRINTING
Ford has collaborated with Carbon3D to develop Continuous Liquid Interface Production – 3D printing tech that grows parts from UV curable resins at speeds as much as 25 to 100 times faster than conventional 3D printing processes

FULL AUTONOMY
Fusion Hybrid research vehicle uses four LiDAR sensors plus radar to scan the road 2.5million times per second. LiDAR bounces infrared light off everything within 60m to generate a realtime 3D map of the environment. Also tracks moving objects such as vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists and can distinguish a paper bag from a small animal a football field away.

FLEXIBLE USE AND OWNERSHIP
GoDrive is an on-demand, public carsharing service that offers customers affordable pay-as-yougo access to a fleet of cars for one-way journeys with guaranteed parking. Other plans include renting out your Ford Creditfinanced car when it’s not in use.