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Tag: open-source innovation

  • Ford’s Keyfree Password Manager Blows the Heads Off Competition

    Ford’s Keyfree Password Manager Blows the Heads Off Competition

    Ford has been desperately seeking a competitive advantage in creating an exceptional and undeniable driving experience, and their efforts have really paid off with this next innovation.

    Quite simple in its design, it is a Chrome extension that stores all your passwords for Google, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and many others. Combine this with a previously authorized smartphone, and you have a device that automatically logs you into all of your accounts upon approaching your computer.

    When combined with Ford’s NFC key fobs, you get instant access to your automobile with all your favorite sites unlocked and waiting for you inside. That’s truly a remarkable experience, in-car or otherwise. Getting access and staying connected is as simple as proximity; no need to remember, no need to type. It’s called Ford keyfree.

    Take a Look:

    Forget about asking why Chevy and Chrysler don’t offer this technology, why doesn’t Apple or Google? It’s password management technology that jumps leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, and it’s from an automobile company. That’s pretty damn impressive!

    While it isn’t available in the United States yet, it is on the way. In fact, we can expect to see a lot more innovation of this variety coming from Ford in the near future. The company has been funding a big open-source initiative and they are hungry for technology that puts the driver at the forefront of the in-car experience.

    Ford recently put resources and tools in place to make collaboration, innovation, integration, and development a mutually beneficial experience. They are seeking out engineers, inventors, app developers, scientists, and entrepreneurs to help them make the automobile more interactive. They have also partnered with companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and many others, in hopes of bringing concepts to reality.

    With their efforts so keenly focused on innovation and strategic partnership, there are bound to be a lot of developments rolling down the production line. We’ll keep you informed as Ford continue to seek out new avenues for refining automobiles and our driving experience.

  • Ford Looks to App Developers and Open-Source Innovation for Futuristic Driving Experience

    Ford Looks to App Developers and Open-Source Innovation for Futuristic Driving Experience

    Ford Motors has been doing everything they can think of to facilitate innovation and a creative spirit in the automotive community. The company has changed their outlook on design and engineering.

    Their latest effort to spur creative ideas comes in the form of a new laboratory in Silicon Valley, where collecting data on how people are using their vehicles and what can be done to better accommodate that use, is at the forefront of design.

    Ford is on a mission to shed the innovation in a bubble mentality of Detroit, and assume the collectivist spirit that embodies invention more closely tied to Silicon Valley. In other word, they want to go open-source with their creative efforts.

    Ford’s CTO Paul Mascarenas comments on the idea:

    “We really want the car to get to know you and what you’re doing at any given time and be able to adapt with a connected experience,”

    More specifically, Ford is looking for app developers to help them create an environment inside of vehicles that is anticipating and delivering at every turn. So if you are an app developer and you are interested in collaborating with Ford on this type of project, visit http://fordsvl.com/.

    Learn a little more about Ford’s collaborative form of innovation with this video:

    At the end of May, Ford got the ball rolling an a new Tech Shop in the Detroit area where tech savvy entrepreneurs can take advantage of cutting-edge design and testing equipment to develop and refine technology aimed at automobile innovation.

    As part of the open-source spirit they also made some refinements to an existing Patent Incentive Program, which allows collaborators to get paid for their intellectual investments. They have also set aside physical spaces in an area of the city they call Fordland where they help small entrepreneurs get manufacturing efforts off the ground while providing affordable rent and professional consultation.

    So, if you want to deliver a vehicle which is adaptive and more attuned to a driver’s experience, you have to embody that mentality with your design efforts, and it sounds like Ford is going above and beyond to do just that. It gives new meaning to the phrase, “there’s an app for that”.

    (Lead Image: Ford’s B-MAX 2013 Concept Vehicle)