What's all this about?
Ford is trying to free up the cities of the future by coming up with alternative urban commuting solutions, rather than us all piling into our individual cars and then causing traffic mayhem. It's called the Ford Smart Mobility plan and it was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
How is Ford going to reduce traffic in years to come?
It is going to run 25 global experiments - nine in Europe and Africa, eight in North America, seven in Asia and one in South America - with each one designed to address four global megatrends: explosive population growth; an expanding middle class; air quality and public health concerns; and changing customer attitudes and priorities. In the UK, the experiments will be held in London.
And what is Ford proposing?
Car-sharing, essentially, with a lot of its plans revolving around that idea. City Driving On-Demand will see a fleet of Ford Focus Electric and Fiesta 1.0-litre EcoBoost cars made available for short-term rent across the capital. Also tested will be Data Driven Insurance (personal policies based on monitoring individual vehicle use), Dynamic Social Shuttle (an on-demand vehicle ride service offering one-way point-to-point journeys, said to be more convenient than a bus and cheaper than a taxi) and Painless Parking (a smartphone app helping drivers find appropriate parking spaces).
Is a lot of this tech based on semi-autonomous cars?
Yes, Ford highlighted its current range of cars (which can assist with parking manoeuvres and so on) and said that fully autonomous models in the future would be another potential fix for traffic congestion. Mark Fields, Ford's president and CEO, said: "We see a world where vehicles talk to one another, drivers and vehicles communicate with the city infrastructure to relieve congestion, and people routinely share vehicles or multiple forms of transportation for their daily commute. The experiments we're undertaking today will lead to an all-new model of transportation and mobility within the next ten years and beyond."
Matt Robinson - 7 Jan 2015