Ford is going into fashion, not for the sake of keeping up with trends but to offer a helping hand to cyclists and drivers, and ultimately ease tensions on the road between the two.
At least, that’s the premise of this jacket prototype. Called the Ford Emoji Jacket, it’s a jacket fitted with an LED display panel on the back, through which the wearer (a cyclist, in this case) can convey a message to the driver immediately behind them.
The message will be an emoji, because that’s the world we live in today. According to Ford, images in general and emojis in particular convey a message in a shorter time than actual words or hand signals. By offering the cyclist the possibility to communicate this way with the driver, Ford believes it stands a chance to reduce the number of collisions between the two – and of accidents.
The jacket prototype is part of the Stare the Road campaign that Ford launched in Europe in the spring of 2018, and represents a new partnership with Designworks. As of the time of press, reactions to the prototype range from utter disbelief to amusement at the ridiculousness of the suggestion.
Basically, the jacket comes with wireless remote control that can be strapped to the handlebars. On it, the cyclist has 5 alternatives for messages they can send out: a smiley face, a frowning face, the “um” face, left and right arrows, and the hazard emoji.
To get any emoji on the back of the jacket, the cyclist must press the corresponding button, thus alerting the driver behind they’re about to come to a stop, slow down, make a turn, or continue merrily on their way.
“We are now living – and driving – in a world where communication is crucial. But all too often between drivers and cyclists this just comes down to the beeping of a horn or a rude gesture,” Emmanuel Lubrani, Share The Road, Ford of Europe says in a post on the official blog.
“Cyclists usually have to take a hand off the handlebars to communicate. The Emoji Jacket uses a universally understood means of communication to show one way in which tensions could be eased – and we all learn to Share The Road,” Lubrani adds.
The jacket doesn’t include the all-too-common flipping of the bird hand gesture. For what it’s worth.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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