In October of 2009, Ford Motor Company, the University of Michigan and Intel created American Journey 2.0 – a competition to create Ford Apps. The Journey 2.0 project was the jumping-off point for the "Cloud Computing within the Commute" class at the U of M – a class focused on creating new social networking applications for use in Ford vehicles. The Ford Fiesta research vehicle can be outfitted with Caravan Track, the winner of the class competition.
What is Caravan Track
The winner of the application contest was a program named Caravan Track. This application is built to allow clusters of automobiles making a trip together to keep track of one another. Caravan Track monitors the position, fuel level, road hazards and a lot more of all cars on a trip together. Caravan Track may also inform the entire caravan of restaurants, rest areas and other stop-over points of interest. Pre-programmed touchscreen messages also keep drivers from having to type while driving.
The other five Ford App competition competitors
There were six teams within the competition to create the best Ford American Journey 2.0 application. Even though Caravan Track won the title, all five of the other applications have great promise. By matching up potential carpool passengers, GreenRide Challenge hopes to be able to reduce total trip miles traveled. By allowing self-reported road hazards with one-touch systems, NostraMap creates real-time maps of areas to keep away from. Fuel Tracker gives real-time feedback on fuel economy and mileage for a specific route. By learning what a driver is interested in over time, Point-Of-Interest is an application that is intended to recommend locations and businesses that a driver could be interested in visiting. An application called "Listen. Speak. Rate. Share" is a voice-review app that gives verbal reviews of places along a driver's route.
Ford Fiesta with Caravan Track
A Ford Fiesta headed for Silicon Valley will be loaded up with multiple research projects, including Caravan Track. On May 14, this “research Fiesta” will be beginning a road trip to the annual Maker Faire and will try to social network the entire trip. Makers of Caravan Track and the other competitors in the U of M class will probably watch this trip very closely.
Sources:
Edmunds Blog
http://blogs.edmunds.com/strategies/2010/05/with-help-from-ford-students-create-the-future-of-in-car-cloud-computing.html
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