Ford's contribution to future mobile communications

Ford has begun testing future technologies with a research programme aimed at advancing car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication on European roads at their European Research Centre in Aachen, Germany. Ford is contributing 20 specially equipped S-MAX models to a 120 vehicle fleet being used to test 20 experimental driver assistance technologies as part of the four-year research project on  Frankfurt roads. "Car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communications represent the next major advancements in vehicle safety,” said Paul Mascarenas, chief technical officer and vice president, Ford Research and Innovation. “Ford is committed to further real-world testing here and around the world with the goal of implementation in the foreseeable future.” The recent press release about this new technology says: "Experts believe roads could be made safer and traffic congestion reduced by using mobile communications technology to integrate vehicles with each other and with transport infrastructure." I do see how this could be an incredibly useful tool and can definitely see it being provided as an integral app for our smartphones or added to an existing Sat Nav system. The expanded use of car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure technology is part of Ford's “Blueprint for Mobility” which details the company’s early thinking on how to tackle the issues of mobility in an already immensely full and urbanised planet. For more details about Ford's “Blueprint for Mobility”, you can watch a video from Ford Motor Company's executive chairman Bill Ford at his keynote address during the GSMA Mobile World Congress and Mobile World Live 2012 here.

[caption id="attachment_1227" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Ford's future car-to-car technologies now being tested in Germany"][/caption]