Ford CEO looks to autonomous cars, sharing economy

“New Kuga offers cutting-edge new features and technologies that will help drivers stay connected, comfortable, safe and stylish on the road”, Joe Bakaj, vice president of product development for Ford of Europe, said in a statement.

To make all of that happen, it needs a customer experience platform, which is why it’s debuting FordPass in Europe this year.

The vehicle boasts a host of active driver aids including a new parking assist feature that can recognize a suitable space as well as help a driver enter it or exit. FordPass also will integrate Ford Carsharing, run with Germany’s Flinkster auto sharing service.

Updated Kuga models with four-wheel drive come with a semi-autonomous, hands-free perpendicular parking assist.

“We are rapidly becoming both an auto company and a mobility company”, Ford said, echoing the same riff. The significant increase in investment announced today will enable Ford to research and develop driver assist technology that transfer more driving tasks to the vehicle and provide more comfort and safety to the driver.

Basic, Ford replaced the 2.0-liter TDCi unit for a 1.5 liter 120 horsepower more efficient.

“At Ford, we’ve been focused on autonomous vehicles for more than a decade, and this year, we’ll have the largest autonomous test fleet among all automakers”, Fields said.

“In well-defined areas and with favourable environmental conditions, we predict that fully autonomous driving will be possible in four years”.

“We’re further growing our core business, which is all around designing, manufacturing, marketing, servicing and financing great cars, SUVs, trucks and electrified vehicles”, he said.

“This is a really good audience to reach some new folks”.

The SYNC3 infotainment system with an 8-inch touchscreen display allows drivers to access audio, navigation and climate control.

Out of all the new features, the SYNC 3 is arguably the best as the voice control on the system understands more “conversational commands”.

Fields is appeared Monday at Mobil World Congress and at CES earlier this year – two big tech expos – to hype Ford’s new connectivity offering, Sync 3.

Fields used his keynote at Mobile World Congress to make a slew of other announcements around its software and services.

Ford refreshed its current Kuga at the end of 2015 so this latest version is expected to arrive in Australian showrooms in December 2016.