Financial Health

Our Blueprint for Mobility

By 2050 we will have a true network of mobility solutions, and automobiles will likely look very different from how they look today.

Vehicle-to-vehicle communications

Vehicles will “talk” to one another, transmitting safety messages.

Vehicle-to-infrastructure technologies

Vehicle-to-infrastructure technologies may enable improved safety while allowing more vehicles to share the road.

In-car mobile communications and interfaces

In-car mobile communications and driver interfaces will become more intuitive. These systems will be able to proactively alert drivers to traffic jams and accidents.

Electrified vehicles

Electrified vehicles will be more commonly used as shared modes of transport for urban users. Vehicles will be parked at charging stations and may well get their power through solar panels, like in our C‑MAX Solar Energi Concept prototype.

Digital maps and cell-based communications

The proliferation of digital maps and cell-based communications will provide better driver information and entertainment features.

At Ford, we believe that mobility challenges – in urban as well as in rural settings – require the same level of attention and determination that we have put toward developing solutions for the environmental challenges faced by our industry. Where environmental sustainability is concerned, we have been making great strides with new vehicle technologies, alternative fuels and vastly cleaner solutions.

A truly sustainable, long-term solution will require a global transportation network that includes vehicle, infrastructure and mobile communications. We need cars that can communicate with each other, and with the world around them, to make driving safer and more efficient. This smart, connected system will tie all modes of travel into a single network linking public and personal transportation together.

Ford was founded on the notion of opening the highways to all mankind, and we still believe in providing accessible, personal mobility for everyone. Our Blueprint for Mobility is based on an analysis of population growth, urbanization and other key societal and economic trends. Our goal is to make mobility affordable in every sense of the word – economically, environmentally and socially – and provide seamless mobility for all.

In the near term (roughly the next five to seven years), technologies – including some that are already in vehicles – will continue to improve. In the mid-term period (to about 2025), the amount of data that will flow to, from and through cars will continue to increase. Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure technologies may enable improved safety while allowing more vehicles to share the road. New technologies will provide more sophisticated systems of semiautomated driving.

We’re working, for example, with the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute’s Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Program, which is testing real-world implementation of connected vehicle safety technologies, applications and systems.

Everything in our Blueprint is achievable in the future based on existing technology. The key challenges are making the offerings affordable and attainable to all customers and finding ways for all stakeholders – the auto industry, governments, technology companies and more – to make the adaptations needed to the transportation infrastructure.

The bullets below provide more detail on the elements of the Blueprint. The near term focuses primarily on technology that Ford is already developing. The mid and long term, meanwhile, set up a vision of what we think future mobility will look like and how Ford, the industry and society as a whole will need to evolve.

Five to Seven Years

Near Term

Ford Motor Company to be at the forefront of developing increasingly intuitive in-car mobile communication options and driver interfaces.
Further development of projects such as the vehicle-to-vehicle warning systems currently being tested in the Ann Arbor (Michigan) Safety Pilot Model Deployment and a system to proactively alert drivers to traffic jams and accidents which is being explored at Ford’s European Research and Advanced Engineering Centre in Aachen, Germany.
The delivery of a better connected, safer and more efficient driving experience with limited automated functions for parking and driving in slow-moving traffic, building on existing Ford features including Active Park Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control and Active City Stop.
Further development and defining of new vehicle ownership models, as already demonstrated through Ford’s marketing collaboration with Zipcar, the world’s largest carsharing and car club service, and our new carsharing program in Germany.

2017–2025

Mid Term

The introduction of semiautomated driving technologies, including driver-initiated automated capabilities and vehicle platooning in limited situations, to provide improved accident avoidance and driver assistance features that always allow the driver to be in the loop and aware of the situation in case he or she needs to take control.
Significantly more interaction between individual cars on the road through the utilization of ever-increasing computing power and numbers of sensors in vehicles, potentially helping to reduce the number of accidents at intersections and enabling limited semiautomated and automated highway lane changing and exiting.
The arrival of vehicle-to-cloud and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications that contribute to greater time and energy efficiency by enabling vehicles to recommend alternative transport options when congestion is unavoidable and to pre-reserve parking spots at destinations.
The emergence of an integrated transport network, featuring cars plugged into public databases.
New city vehicle options, as more and more one-, two-, and three-passenger vehicles are introduced to help maneuver on city streets.

2025+

Long Term

A radically different transportation landscape in which pedestrian, bicycle, private car, commercial and public transportation traffic will be woven into a single connected network to save time, conserve resources, lower emissions and improve safety.
The arrival of smart vehicles capable of fully automated navigation, with increased automated operating duration, plus the arrival of automated valet functions, delivering effortless vehicle parking and storage.
The development of a true network of mobility solutions, with personal vehicle ownership complemented by greater use of connected and efficient shared services, and completely new business models contributing to improved personal mobility.