by Lori Cunningham

A week and a half ago I was invited to attend Ford’s “Car of Tomorrow” event* in Orlando, FL.   As a part of the event, Ford would be demonstrating their new hybrid technology, showcasing their Driving Skills for Life teenager program, and providing the opportunity to see Bill Ford Jr., the grandson of Henry Ford, speak at the World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems at the Orlando Convention Center.  It was an opportunity I could not pass up.

The day of the event I met up with 16 other writers and bloggers.  I was thrilled to see a number of my blogger friends including Heidi Leder, of CoastToCoastMom, (and fellow PlayStation Family Member…more on that later), Yvonne Condes of MomsLA (love MomsLA!), Crystal Reagan, Simply Being Mommy, and Lee Allport, MySentimentExactLee, both of whom I met at the Disney Lion King 3D Premier Mom Blogger event.  

We were caravaned in several new Ford expeditions to Maggiano’s, a great Italian eatery, nearby the Convention Center.  Ford gave us an overview on their successful Ford Driving Skills for Life program and a look into the Car of Tomorrow.  Later we traveled to the convention center to see Bill Ford Jr.’s speech to the ITS Congress, which was compelling and thought provoking.  Bill Ford Jr. recognizes the importance of instilling “green” in everything they do as well as working with small upstart companies that have the potential to dramatically change the way things are done.

The event did not disappoint.  Ford’s Driving Skills for Life is a fantastic program –  .  if you have a teenager who is driving or is about to drive, definitely read our upcoming article entitled Ford Driving Skills for Life  to learn more about this great program and to be notified when the class will be offered in your area.

The Car of Tomorrow

Ryan McGee, a Technical Expert in the Ford Electrification Research and Advanced Engineering department gave us a glimpse on what Ford is working on right now to make cars more integrated into our everyday lives.

Cars of the Future will be

1. Smart
2. Connected
3. Electrified

Smarter Cars

Cars will be made smarter through:

• Intelligent Routing – getting to a destination will be more efficient and faster as routes will be calculated on terrain, traffic, and weather.  More intelligence will be offered to help you make smarter choices.
• Intelligent Driving – with more information, you will be able to smartly use your accelerator and brake pedal to achieve the best fuel economy.
• Intelligent Operation – how your car operates – “This technology has the potential to empower our vehicles to anticipate a driver’s needs for various reasons, such as optimizing a vehicle’s powertrain efficiency,” Ryan stated.

Connected Cars

Connected cars will improve the way your car operates through:

• Access to real-time data (traffic, weather, other cars’ locations)
• Cloud computing – instead of tons of computers and software programs on-board your vehicle, computations can be performed in the cloud and directed back to the car for useful information to assist you in driving your car.
• Crowd sourcing – this one is pretty cool – crowd sourcing takes information from other drivers who have driven the same route you’re taking and make suggestions on how you can make the same drive more efficiently.
• Personalized data –  we all use our cars differently. Ford is working to make your drive customized to you.

Electrified Cars

Cars are becoming more electrified.  More and more electric car choices are being rolled out to the public. I have driven a hybrid car just once, at the test track in Detroit at Ford’s headquarters.  It was fun to see when I was driving in the “green” or electric mode vs. the gas mode.  But I was pretty astounded when I drove the new hybrid car, not in production yet, in Orlando.

Other than seeing it on the dashboard, I barely could tell when it went from electric to gas modes.  Even more astonishing to me was how quiet the car is when it’s in electric mode.  With the car parked, I could not tell the engine was on.  Even when it was driving, the only way I could tell the car was moving was by the wheels driving across the pavement.  Impressive.

Ford’s hybrid car of the future feature:

• a larger battery
• plug- in charging

In the future, there will be three ways to charge your electric vehicle utilizing plug-in charging:

1. DC 110 power – what we currently use in our household
2. DC 220 power – typically used with ovens, laundry machines, etc.
3. DC to DC power – the fastest way to charge your battery, will take approximately 15 minutes.

To help save the battery life of your car, Ford is working on mapping system where you can map out areas ahead of time where when you driving in a predetermined zone, your car will automatically switch to electric to conserve gas.  Your car will process the information and conduct the shift to electric automatically once it hits the coordinates you mapped out.

WiFi Cars

Ford is working with the federal government to install WiFi into every newly manufactured vehicle so cars can talk with each other.   Most accidents can be avoided if drivers were given even a few extra seconds to respond. 

If you have the right-of-way and are heading into an intersection and another car runs a read light, the WiFi built-into both cars will alert you with a loud beeping sound and red lights on your windshield so you can slam on your brakes to avoid the accident.

Ford demonstrated 7 or 8 different scenarios where an accident was avoided with such intelligent technology.  We were actually in the car with the warnings and, let me tell you, the driver slammed on his brakes pretty hard each time as soon as he heard the warning.  I’m sure glad the brakes were in good working condition!

What about our current cars you’re wondering?  Ford knows that this WiFi technology will not work well unless all cars are utilizing WiFi.  Adapter kits/apps will be available for older cars.  Fearful about Big Brother?  Only information about the coordinates of your car, speed, and other non-identifying information will be used.

A Mom’s Perspective