Ford working with technology companies on self-driving solutions

16th January 2015

By: Irma Venter

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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The future of the automotive industry belongs to the current crop of carmakers, as well as technology companies, says Ford Motor Company, executive chairperson Bill Ford.

It is not an ‘either or’ situation, he emphasises. “We’ll do it together.”

He says the US manufacturer, as a mobility company, is working, and will work with, big, small and start-up technology companies to bring the car of the future to fruition, with new technology no longer flowing only from the automotive industry’s “traditional areas”.

Well-known automakers have been confronted with the rise of a number of companies seeking to enter the car market, such as Google, with its self-driving car, or out-of-the-box thinkers, such as flying car developers.

Ford is not sure how flying cars will operate in the real world, as most people are “bad drivers in two dimensions”, with three dimensions adding even more complexity.

He also questions where these cars will take off and land, as well as their accessibility, as operating a flying car requires a pilot’s licence in most countries.

The great-grandson of Henry Ford is, however, more optimistic about driverless cars.

He does not believe self-driving cars will become a reality in the next three to four years.

However, once available, such technology will almost be “an anticlimax”, as most of the systems that support autonomous driving already exist in today’s vehicles, such as lane-keeping assist, which pushes the vehicle back into its lane, should the driver’s attention stray.

Ford believes that autonomous driving can work in controlled environments, but that it will face some tough challenges in uncontrolled environments, such as sand and snowstorms.

‘We Have a Numbers Problem’
The freedom of mobility that the car has brought to the world is currently threatened by a numbers problem, notes Ford.

“For most of my adult life, I worried about how I am going to sell more cars and trucks. “Today I [ask]: What if all we do is sell more cars and trucks? What happens if the number of vehicles on the roads doubles, triples and even quadruples?”

This is perhaps strange thinking for a man who grew up in a dynasty believing in cars, says Ford.

Ford’s great-grandfather believed the automobile brought freedom and progress. Prior to Henry Ford’s famous Model T, most people did not travel more than 25 miles from home in their entire lifetime.

“This is a belief I share, but, while I believe in the power of mobility, it is not my only passion,” says Ford. “I am also an environmentalist.”

The auto industry has often been cited as a major and unrepentant polluter, but times are changing.

“With new technology, we are improving fuel economy and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from our products. “I believe that, in my lifetime, we will have truly green transportation.

“This is great progress, but I wish this is all we had to do.

“There are seven-billion people in the world, and in our lifetime that will grow to nine-billion people. When we look at population growth in terms of vehicles, the problem becomes even more pronounced.”

Today, there are about one-billion vehicles on the roads, worldwide, with that number expected to double, and possibly double again by 2050.

“This will create global gridlock on a scale that has never been seen before,” states Ford.

The average American already spends about a week a year stuck in traffic. In Beijing, the average driver has a five-hour daily commute.

“While cars are getting cleaner, a traffic jam with no emissions is still a traffic jam. [Also], the bigger issue is how global gridlock will stifle economic growth.”

What Will it Take to Solve the Issue?

The answer is not more roads, believes Ford.

“My great-grandfather once said that ‘if I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses’. Today, we need that same leap in thinking to preserve mobility worldwide.”

Smart cars, smart parking, smart public transportation and smart roads all add to the solution.

“We need to connect them all using wireless telecommunications,” says Ford.

“Why? Because when you link the vehicle to the world around it, you begin to attack global gridlock. To keep traffic moving, we need an integrated transportation system that uses real-time data to optimise personal mobility on a massive scale.

“Some work in this area is already going on. The era of the connected car has already begun.”

Cars to Talk to Each Other, Infrastructure
Imagine what is possible once cars begin talk- ing to each other and the roadways around them, says Ford.

The systems used to bring entertainment and navigation into vehicles are the same systems that will be used to create a smart network.

Is it not possible for vehicles to be rerouted through these systems if they receive information that there is an accident ahead? Can cars not be told where to find an open parking spot, asks Ford.

A US study found that up to 74% of city congestion is created by drivers looking for a parking spot.

However, cars can also become more than a tool to merely transport people and goods from one point to another.

“We have an opportunity we could not have imagined ten years ago,” says Ford.

“All the computing power that make cars smart and connects them to the world around them is capable of doing so much more.”

The US carmaker has started a project in India, where it places its vehicles in rural villages to help improve the health of expecting mothers.

The driver collects and loads the patient’s medical data into the vehicle’s computer and sends it wirelessly to medical professionals in the city.

“The woman’s prenatal condition is monitored closely, vastly improving the chances of a healthy mother and child,” says Ford.

In a similar vein, vehicles can also be used to map rural roads, facilitating economic development.

Further

, autonomous driving can assist the disabled and elderly to gain and regain mobility.

“As technology evolves, we must push ourselves to look for new opportunities to solve bigger issues,” says Ford. “We must find ways that mobility can improve the human condition.

“For me, it is returning to my roots. Growing up there was almost something heroic about the car – the automobile represented possibility – and I believe we are there again.” • Venter attended Bill Ford’s talk on mobility in Dubai as a guest of the Ford Motor Company.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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