When I first received the email about heading to the North American International Auto Show with Ford Canada, I was surprised - until I realized that it made sense. Moms are there when you buy the cars, Moms have insight into the features that are going to work for the family and Moms are the deciding factor when it comes to the car (and often the budget that comes with the vehicle). When we were looking, I wanted features like My Key, Sync and park assist - I wanted the tech, and I’m not alone.
At the North American Auto Show, I had a chance to see first hand the technology aspect of the experience, and how Ford Motor Company maintains a focus on innovation and technology. From the sessions with Ford’s Futurist, Sheryl Connelly, to meeting with Mark Fields, the president and CEO of Ford Motor Company to learn about everything from where Ford is headed in the future, to their strategies for marketing the new tech-friendly features - it was a fantastic learning experience.
As part of that experience, I was able to learn firsthand about some of the predictions for the future, or the trends, highlighted -
Autonomous Driving Features
Features like the front camera, using sensors around the vehicle to reduce the chances of an accident and even the park assist are only glimpses of things to come in the future. Vehicles that we buy, and that our children buy will contain technology to make driving easier, and will quickly expand on the features that we rely on already, while in the car.
Car Shares
Ford is always searching for ways to make driving easier - and one of these ways that is becoming more and more popular, is car sharing. Finding apps, and using technology to make it easier to find a vehicle in the area, schedule time and even share vehicles between a group of people is something that’s not only going to be easier, but that’s going to be popular in the future.
Staying Connected… But Not While On the Road
Using Smartphone technology, applications allow the driver to stop text messages from being received while driving and can even send a message to contacts that you’re on the road, and to avoid sending messages while you’re driving. The technology involved in this years’ reveals, through vehicles like the Ford Raptor, and technology to create a lighter, more efficient vehicle, that’s connected with technology like Ford Sync. These features were mirrored in the choices and technology that we were searching for this summer, when we were looking for a family vehicle.
Focus on Generation Z
Generation Z are the children that are currently under 21 years of age. Through an interesting talk, we learned about how Generation Z thinks, how they communicate and how they are going to shop for vehicles. Fascinating information for parents of younger children - there were many similarities with the ways that we shop, communicate and interact, as young parents.
