The Ford Evos Concept is currently on display at the 64th International Motor Show 2011 in Frankfurt. The Evos concept shows off the future of Ford’s in-car infotainment, which is set to connect your car to your lifestyle and make it more of an extension of your personality than ever before.
In the video below, filmed at the world’s largest consumer electronics fare (IFA) in Berlin last week, we’re given a quick demonstration of Ford’s current Sync technology. While the services talked about are already available in the U.S., they have yet to be introduced in Europe and locally.
As you can see, the Sync system in the new Ford Focus already boasts some very trick functions, especially the wireless hot-spot capability. Here in South Africa, I’m not sure how keen I’d be to let my passengers download their emails, browse the web and check their Facebook and Twitter feeds, all via my mobile network’s costly 3G data tariff. In foreign markets, however, it’s a different story, as fixed price and unlimited data tariffs are already available.
Cheap, fast and reliable Internet connectivity is the backbone for the technology ideals introduced in Ford’s new Evos concept car, features which Ford say, we can expect to see in production within the next five years.
Gathered at ‘Station Berlin’ in Germany a few short weeks ago, for the preview of the Ford Evos concept, Ford’s Chief Technology Officer and VP of Research and Innovation, Paul Mascarenas, explained to us the artificial intelligence that being connected to “the Cloud” (a.k.a. the Internet), will bring to future Ford vehicles within the next five years.
Examples include, the car automatically playing the same music or news program that was just streaming on your home stereo; automatically heating or cooling the interior to an ideal temperature before you get into your car based on live weather information and any appointments you have scheduled in your calendar; automatically closing the electronic garage door and sending a signal to turn off the house lights as you drive away.
Convenient features, sure, but things get more interesting when you consider that entering your destination into the sat-nav system will allow the car to check your route and establish the types of roads up ahead. The car could connect to your social networks and recommend a driving route ‘liked’ by your friends in your location. Combine this information with the weather update mentioned earlier, and your Ford of the future could adapt itself in real-time to your drive, adjusting properties like the throttle response, available power and active suspension, for the best combination of safety, fun and enjoyment. It could also connect to electronic parking management systems, search for and book a parking spot at your destination, before using park-distance control sensors and GPS positioning to automatically park the car for you.
You may be thinking we’re one step away from living like ‘The Jetsons’, but if you think again, there’s nothing new about the functions or services mentioned above. We’re already using streaming audio, shared calendars, personal location-based services, park distance control and park assist, active suspension, real-time GPS navigation and so on, it’s just the semantics between the technologies that need to be ironed out before we can have such convergence.
Such close integration of Internet-based technology into cars is exciting and promises to make driving an experience like never before, but apart from the Internet, this future ideal relies on one more crucial ingredient, you, and specifically, your willingness to share your personal information online.
Considering much of the Evos’ feature-rich character relies on access to personal information, we caught up with Paul Mascarenas in Berlin and asked his thoughts on the growing awareness around the need for online privacy and security, and how this trend could affect the success of a concept like the Evos.
“I think it’s a valid customer concern. The first thing we’re doing to address that, is that it is an opt-in technology. That said though, one of the areas that we’re working in collaboration with other OEM’s, with network providers, with service providers and really with government – we’re working with various governments around the world – is to address policy issues that support the technology. And under policy issues there’s really three things – security of data, privacy of data and then there’s also liability issues. Because if the driver is depending on some of this ‘cloud data’, for example from a safety perspective, and makes decisions based on that – the network breaks or the service isn’t there – who’s ultimately responsible? And for that reason we have to continue to keep the driver in the loop. So we don’t imagine a situation where you could go to sleep and let the vehicle drive itself.”
Pointing out that the success of the vision Ford has for its Evos concept relies on third-party data, such as weather, navigation and live traffic for example, we asked how the lack of control over the quality of that information could influence the final product.
“I agree. What we would do is validate the information that’s available before we make it accessible in the vehicle. So if you start with absolute basic functions, navigation for example, there’s fantastic cloud-based navigation. Weather information is fantastic. There’s all kinds of information that’s already there. Some of the information we probably will manage. Vehicle data for example, is probably something that Ford would manage – we wouldn’t expect that to be in an open environment. But it’s really about using information that you’re accessing anywhere else and now making it accessible in the vehicle.”
So, apart from the obvious attraction to the sleek and sophisticated looking Evos concept and it’s lithium-ion plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain – good for a 800 kilometer range – what do you think of sharing as much personal information online as possible, in order to maximise your driving experience? Would you pay a premium for the privilege? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below.
