Ford Shares Connected Car Data with Other Manufacturers to Help Make Journeys Safer – Even if You Don’t Drive a Ford

• Ford cars to share information about potential road safety incidents to help warn road users – including drivers of other manufacturer vehicles, as well as Fords – of hazards ahead

• Local Hazard Information connected car technology already warns other Ford drivers of safety incidents; now, even more, drivers will benefit from road safety warnings. 

• Reciprocal agreement part of EC-backed Data for Road Safety; partners include BMW, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, TomTom, HERE Technologies, and EU traffic management centers

JEDDAH, KSA, January 25, 2021 – Ford will help drivers of connected vehicles across multiple brands with a warning of potentially dangerous driving conditions on the road ahead as part of a landmark road safety data-sharing agreement.

Local Hazard Information, introduced with the new Ford Puma in early 2020 and now being enabled on newly built Fords, including the all-new Escape, can already warn drivers of road safety dangers that might be around the corner. 1 With the new agreement, vehicles from other manufacturers will now be able to identify and share information about hazards they encounter and improve road safety by enabling more drivers to prepare for dangers ahead.

“Connected vehicles help drivers to anticipate hazards that may be lurking just around the next bend,” said Peter Geffers, manager, Connected Vehicles, Ford of Europe. “Road-safety data sharing ecosystems are more effective the more vehicles and telematics sources they include; extending the benefits of this technology to those who do not drive Ford cars represents a significant step forwards.”

Led by the European Commission-backed Data for Road Safety partnership, the agreement follows a 16-month proof of concept during which tens of millions of Safety‑Related Traffic Information (SRTI) messages – such as broken-down vehicles, slippery roads, or reduced visibility – were exchanged between different vehicles. Partners alongside Ford include BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo, with the data-sharing ecosystem now open to new participants.

Anonymized data from the vehicle, such as fog lights, emergency braking, or airbag activation, is computed onboard to determine potential hazards’ presence and location. Using the FordPass Connect modem, these warning messages are sent to a secure Ford server. The data is distributed to SRTI partners who collate hazard messages from various sources and then share them with multiple vehicle brands.

Any relevant SRTI messages are immediately sent – again, using cellular communications – to vehicles in the vicinity of the potential hazard and appear on the driver’s dashboard display. As well as warning other drivers, the information can be used to alert emergency services, providing accurate location data in seconds to help accelerate assistance.

“The Data for Road Safety ecosystem is a public-private partnership that delivers enriched data to improve road safety in a very tangible way, so it is a win-win situation for society as a whole,” said Joost Vantomme, chairman of the new SRTI ecosystem. “The vehicle manufacturers participating in the project are willing to share data daily and will continue their endeavors to contribute to the SRTI data ecosystem, together with all partners.”