On Saturday May 19, Briarwood Ford will hold its annual “Drive One 4UR School” event from 9:00am to 5:00pm at Harvest Elementary as a fundraiser to support Saline Music Boosters. [1,2]
In light of what’s being discussed for the future of smart cities, it’s reasonable to ask how much longer anyone will be driving any vehicle at all, anywhere. [3,4,5]
Ken Washington spoke directly to this during his keynote address at the Washtenaw Community College (WCC) “Smart Cities” symposium on April 6.
That his title is Vice President, Research and Advanced Engineering and Chief Technology Officer was undoubtedly no surprise. The fact that he holds this position with Ford Motor Company, however, may have come as news to those merely skimming the headlines on smart vehicle news coverage. [6,7]
Mr Washington began his presentation by reminding this WCC audience that Ford was there for the beginning of the first biggest transformation of the automobile industry. Henry Ford himself was at its center. These were opportunities as well as challenges with which Saline is intimately familiar, of course. Vice President Washington emphasized the importance of understanding this not just as a technological change, but a societal change. [8]
Smart cities portend the same.
Individuals are living longer. Work is now adapting to home and lifestyle — the opposite of the way things were with the industrial revolution. Political centers are shifting. Some associated costs are emerging, inevitable; with connectivity comes new and increased cybersecurity risks. Definitions of privacy and identity may even change, regardless of what any given corporation does, as a matter of course.
Acquisition and storage of massive amounts of data is no longer the issue. Five years ago, processing that data was the then-new insurmountable. This is no longer the case. Moreover, technology now exists to make sense of that data irrespective of native form: Visual, audible, or text.
“The day when everything is connected to everything else will soon be here,” Ken Washington added without a trace of hyperbole. “Bike racks will talk to each other,” he said — an assertion that Ford visualized the following week at its SAE booth in Detroit a week later. [9,10]
Adaptations that are now emerging involve coordination among municipalities in the collection, format, and storage of data.
“The road network of today isn’t for smart cars,” Mr Washington asserted. “Just like horse and buggy roads were not for Henry Ford’s cars. That had to change and that did change. It will change again.”
Here in Saline, Briarwood Ford still isn’t getting many questions about autonomous vehicles. But general manager Steve Whitener agrees with the approach taken by Ford Motor Company. “Whether it’s ride share, bike share, or something you can’t imagine right now, it has to be a total mobility solution,” he told Saline Journal.
Additionally, he reassured the still large number of people for whom the word “connection” means the emotional connection they have to their vehicles. [11]
“It will be years before ownership and driving see a full transformation.”
With that forecast in mind, relax and enjoy your test drive on May 19.
References
- “Drive One 4UR school” Saline Music Boosters.
- Briarwood Ford (home page).
- “It’s Important to Understand What Being a ‘Smart City’ Means to Saline, Part 1” Dell Deaton (April 12, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “It’s Important to Understand What Being a ‘Smart City’ Means to Saline, Part 2” Dell Deaton (April 16, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “It’s Important to Understand What Being a ‘Smart City’ Means to Saline, Part 3” Dell Deaton (April 20, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Smart Cities: A Connected Way Forward” (April 6, 2018) Washtenaw Community College.
- Ford Motor Company (home page).
- “Henry Ford In Saline, MI” James Roth (July 25, 2013) YouTube.
- WCX18: SAE World Congress Experience (home page).
- “#wcx18” Instagram.
- “Saline Michigan Is a Place That Gets ‘Car People’ (Year Round, as It Turns Out)” Dell Deaton (April 23, 2018) Saline Journal.
Hashtag
#wccsmartcities
