Ford and Aachen University to collaborate on Personal Mobility
The car giant and one of Germany's leading technology-focused universities will examine four trends relating to mobility as part of a wider iniative by the car company to become a future transport develpment. The four trends are:
- Urbanisation - the pressure on existing road infrastructures necessitating smarter cars, roads and cities.
- Rapid growth of the global middle class - an estimated global population of four billion by 2030 could lead to potential global gridlock.
- Air quality issues - more vehicles means a greater need for fuel efficiency and alternative powertrains.
- Changing consumer attitudes - automakers will need to examine their relevance with the increase of integrated urban transit systems.
Ford will also give greater focus to driverless and 'connected' cars, with the development of two prototypes with vehicle-to-vehicle communication capability being used to help test an innovative public transport system.
Ford’s semi-autonomous vehicle features include Lane Keeping Aid, Adaptive Cruise Control, Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian Detection and Active Park Assist – with Traffic Jam Assist coming.
The company is also developing and road testing a fleet of fully autonomous Ford Fusion Hybrid research vehicles.