Ford is planning to showcase cloud-connected capabilities in its Evos Concept car at the upcoming 2012 International CES in Las Vegas in January.
The Evos car promises to integrated on-board data about driver preferences with cloud-based information such as work schedules, music and weather conditions, and local data delivered through vehicle-to-vehicle communications.
Ford said it is also seeking to use the power of the cloud to understand driver behavior and travel patterns in order to make predictions about destinations and to adjust the control strategies for the state-of-the-art lithium-ion plug-in-hybrid powertrain. Through understanding where the driver is likely to go, Evos can intelligently switch between running on battery or engine power in order to use the least amount of energy for any situation.
"Today, drivers have to adapt to the features and capabilities of their car," said Paul Mascarenas, Ford chief technical officer and leader of the company's global Research and Innovation team. "The Evos Concept changes the paradigm of how you interact with your car. Our vision is that the car should seamlessly adapt to the driver taking the driving experience to a whole new level of personalization and convenience." http://www.ford.com
- The Evos is based on a lithium-ion plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain. It was first shown at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor show in September.