What is Ford's future?

Over the past year, we have come up with a variety of information about plans, ideas, and Ford projects being implemented. Some of them also concern Ford Transit. We will try to gather this information in one place. Get your belts and go with us on a small trip to the future!

Electric cars

Half of Ford's will be hybrid and electric cars by 2020. In 2014, three models of C-max Energi, Ford Mondeo Hybrid and Ford Focus Electric were introduced to selected European dealer networks. It did not quite work, for example, the production of the Mondeo Hybrid began only in November 2014. By 2020 it will spend $ 4.5 billion to electrify part of its model range. At that time, Ford will offer 13 hybrid and electric models. By the end of the decade, such vehicles will cover 40 percent. Offers of this manufacturer. The first step is to introduce on all European markets the mentioned Focus Electric.

Car parts from 3D printer

Ford is trying 3D printing for car and van parts. The company will start with spoilers, those streamlined decorations fastened to car exteriors to make them look faster. For now, the company is testing parts for its Ford Performance race car division, but 3D-printed parts could be used for mass-market cars and trucks in the future.
The 3D printing is taking place at the company's factory in Dearborn, Michigan, using a printer made by the company Stratasys (Ford: "capable of printing automotive parts of practically any shape or length.")

New UK innovation centre

Ford has chosen the UK as the location for its development of smarter transport shrugging off any concerns over Brexit. The car brand's European smart cities research centre will based at Here East, the business hub in Stratford's Olympic park which is also home to BT Sport, University College London, and the newly opened Plexal tech hub.
“Basing our rapidly growing team here in the heart of mobility innovation in London is critical to accelerating our learning and development of new technologies," said Ford's vice president and president of Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Ford recently signalled its focus on the technology with the appointment of the head of its driverless car unit, Jim Hackett, as chief executive in a management shake up.

Self-driving cars

Ford has already dipped a toe or two into the future. Last year, it bought Chariot, a San Francisco ride-sharing service that uses Ford Transit 15-seat vans. This year, Ford announced that it’s investing $1 billion in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence and robotics outfit founded by former Google and Uber engineers. They will work on software for Ford’s first fully autonomous vehicle, which the company says it will launch in 2021.
Mark Fields prior CEO of Ford unveiled in 2016 that they are to double Ford’s Silicon Valley workforce and expand their facilities by 150,000 square feet by the end on 2016. Field’s is promising autonomous vehicles for mass transit that is to SAE Level 4 standard of automation by 2021. Fields joined Ford in 2014, since his start he has prioritised research and development for self-driving cars. Field’s ambition is that Ford will create autonomous vehicles for the next 100 years.
In short, this mean driverless vehicles that has no steering wheel or peddles and to be used in urban environments. Chinese search engine company Baidu and Ford are both investing a combined $150m in Velodyne LiDAR, who are the makers of light detection and ranging technology for 3D digital imaging. Velodyne technology uses a combination of cameras. Laser-beamed sensor’s and light which assess the surrounding environment therefore creating a 360-degree visual mapping. Driverless vehicles will be more expensive than the normal cars or delivery vans.