This year’s CES was a full-on technological offensive from German automakers. The Mercedes-Benz F 015 concept and the BMW M4 Iconic Lights concept were the real showstoppers, but American automakers introduced pretty clever and useful technologies too.
Chevrolet and OnStar came to CES with an advanced car diagnostics system, with Fiat-Chrysler showcasing four all-new services for their Uconnect system that do the same thing. However, FoMoCo went all out and brought no less than 25 global mobility experiments to the Vegas show.
The company announced its Ford Smart Mobility plan to use innovation to take it to the next level in connectivity, mobility, autonomous cars, customer experience and big data. Each of the experiments was designed to anticipate what customers will need in tomorrow’s personal transportation ecosystem.
23 of those experiments comprise of nerdy jibber-jabber which isn’t really worth mentioning
Alas, the pair that caught our attention is comprised of the all-new and better than ever SYNC Gen III infotainment system, slated to equip all Ford and Lincoln nameplates by the end of this year, and research into semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles.
In our review of the 2015 Ford Mondeo we mentioned the sea of technology that equips the family-oriented sedan, but Ford is pushing the envelope even further. A fully autonomous Ford Fusion (Mondeo) Hybrid research vehicle is reportedly testing semi-autonomous technology taken from today’s models.
In addition to those technologies, engineers added four LiDAR sensors to generate a real-time 3D map of the surrounding environment. After the LiDAR sensors do their thing, the system’s computer uses algorithms to help it learn to predict where cars and pedestrians might move.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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