Open Innovation at Ford’s Silicon Valley Lab
Ford’s Silicon Valley Lab is driving into the future with a crowdsourcing approach to the creation of groundbreaking apps and entertainment features for its vehicles.
The Silicon Valley Business Journal recently published a fascinating feature on Ford’s open source platform called Open XC – a main focus of the lab. The neat research tool has been designed to let third party developers create any number of innovative software programs.
Open XC plugs into a car via Bluetooth to access the tons of data produced by its electrical systems.
Harnessing the Power of Data
“Every vehicle has a ton of data in it. That data is essentially dying,” said Ford Silicon Valley Lab Director to the journal’s Lauren Hepler. “It’s being used by the vehicle to control itself so that electric components can speak to one another, but beyond that there’s a lot you could do with it.”
There are many potential applications waiting to be developed. Among those suggested in the feature are pollen sensors that could trigger allergy warnings and glucose monitors that could interface with the car. These could be useful if you are driving with elderly people or children with diabetes. As with many things, the only limits are the imagination.
Personalized Driving Experience
One of the aims of the Open XC project is to make the driving experience more personal. Ford believes that its crowdsourcing approach will help it to keep abreast of innovations across a variety of its markets – mature and developing.
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