They are also working on driverless cars and have successfully developed their own SYNC technology. Move over Google and Apple, you now have Ford to contend with.
Ford beat GM and still is and now Ford is taking on the tech giants. The tech industry is not merging with the car industry and what is going on is the same thing that occurred in Avengers with Captain America’s shield took the full force of Thor’s hammer and several acres of forest was blown away.
Now Ford has entered into the fitness tracker industry and is currently busy undertaking an experience that will encourage astute driving skills.
Driver Behavior Project
The project has been named as Driver Behavior Project and its objective is to give scores to the drivers based on their inputs which is measured and monitored using fitness trackers. A prototype app for the driver has been developed which is connected to the fitness tracker which in turn is connected to the driver.
The data that will be collected using this program will be shared with insurance companies and car pool and car share companies that will allow these drivers who have a better score to get cheaper insurance, and better rates on car shares and car pools. They will also have access to better discounts and deals.
The approach that the auto manufacturer has adopted is very similar to that of regular fitness tracker apps and plug-in devices that are currently available in the market these days. So far, the company has collected data from 40 different Ford Fiestas over a period of 4 months. The team is currently busy analyzing this data to arrive at conclusions that can help in making more informed decisions.
Wow, is this an invasion of privacy though? What if you like to speed on highways when no one is around? Will you be punished for this?
Experiment
Volunteers participated in the experiment and drove around the city of London for more than 4,000 hours for a total of 160,000 miles. Each and every action that the driver took was recorded systemically and carefully so as to derive maximum benefit from the experiment.
Examples of data collected include weather, speed on highways, speed in the cities, speed when taking a turn, braking, and more. All this data will help the company understand what kind of a driver you are and based on your personal score, you will receive benefits. Each and every interaction of the driver with car is monitored and explored to understand driver behavior.
A separate score is calculated for each and every journey that the driver embarks on which later contributes to his total average score. The app will also show a graph with lines which will make it easy for drivers to understand their performance over a period of time.
"From the vehicle data and research gathered, we were able to test an internally developed, highly advanced driving score algorithm. The score could be used to develop a mobility profile, enabling drivers to save money on services tailored to their needs." – Jonathan Scott, project leader for Ford Smart Mobility project.
Some people have an issue with this though.
Analysis
The data collected will also help the company understand how a particular driver responds under situations of stress and under various levels of pressure. For example, the tracker will monitor your heart rate, eye movements and body movements when the driver is driving around the city.
Ford is currently focusing on autonomous cars, on-demand vehicles, car sharing, smart parking, multi-mode transport, and self-driving cars. Is there any boundaries they are not willing to cross?
This involves ability to not only track car performance, but also human performance. Ford realizes that the car is no longer the gateway for communication as it were in the old days. Today people are more interested in dreaming about their first smartphone rather than their first car, and this is because social connectivity is that much higher thanks to technology.