Innovation is key to Ford
Ford Motor Company has been named the most innovative volume brand of 2015 for its safety and semi-autonomous driver technologies at the 10th annual Automotive Innovations Award.
The Centre of Automotive Management based in Germany, named Ford the category winner after considering innovations from 18 global automotive groups representing 53 brands. The new Ford Focus also won in its class, and the all-new Ford Mondeo was in the top three of its segment.
Ford won the awards for safety and driver assistance systems including active park assist that helps drivers to park alongside other cars, and in parallel parking spaces; and automatic braking technology, active city stop which operates at speeds of up to 50km/h.
“Innovation has always been the lifeblood of Ford and it’s more vital with the automotive industry entering a period of rapid technological advancement,” said Joe Bakaj, vice-president, product development, Ford of Europe. “The technologies we are introducing today are enabling a safer, more efficient and more connected journey.”
The judging panel, led by centre director Prof Dr Stefan Bratzel, in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, reported that driver-assistance systems accounted for nearly 300 of the innovations submitted. “Automotive Innovations identified future trends in the automotive industry on the basis of more than 1 200 technical innovations,” Bratzel said. “The award for Ford as ‘most innovative volume manufacturer’, proves the innovative power of the brand. With Focus and Mondeo, many of the innovations have already found their way into production.”
Jurors also recognised Ford for the award-winning 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine that last year became the first engine to be named international engine of the year three years in a row, and the company’s electronic stability programme technology. Launched last year, the new Focus is sold in more than 140 markets worldwide and also offers voice-activated Sync 2-technology that enables drivers simply to say “I’m hungry” to bring up a list of local restaurants, which they can then get directions to.
The all-new Mondeo offers technologies including inflatable rear seat belts that combine airbag and seat-belt attributes, and Ford’s new pre-collision assist with pedestrian detection that can detect people in the road ahead – or who could cross the vehicle’s path – and automatically apply the brakes if the driver does not respond to warnings.
