Ford Focuses on the Future of Urban Transportation

By Ann Binlot Published June 26, 2015

the future of urban transportation is with ford mode flex e bike 1 970x546 c — Image used with permission by copyright holder

In just a few years — 2017, to be exact — estimates the Global Health Observatory, the majority of the earth’s population will live in cities. The United Nations says that by 2050 approximately 60 percent of the world population will live in an urban area. That’s why Ford, the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker who pioneered large-scale auto manufacturing back in the early 1900s is moving into a new realm, which started with the inauguration of a Silicon Valley Research Innovation Center, which opened in Palo Alto, California, earlier this year.

A few days ago, at the Further With Ford 2015 conference in San Francisco and the Silicon Valley, Ford announced the introduction of new technologies that will make transportation easier in cities: a new eBike and a peer-to-peer car-sharing program. “We really want to be part of the community,” said Ford CEO Mark Fields. “We’re focused on three priorities: accelerating the pace of progress on our One Ford plan, delivering product excellence with a lot of passion, and also driving innovation into every part of our business.”

Recommended Videos

With the surging urban population growth, Ford is focusing on the Ford Smart Mobility plan. “Henry Ford understood that mobility is all about freedom: the freedom to choose where to live, where to work and where to play,” said Fields. After a research phase, the company is now in the implementation part of its plan, which is based around two products: a new Peer-2-Peer Car Sharing program, which could possibly be the AirBNB of the automobile world. Ford is also introducing its third eBike: the MoDe:Flex, which is reconfigurable based on each rider’s needs. “The bike’s center frame assembly includes the motor and battery, while the front and rear assemblies and wheels can be configured for road, mountain or city riding,” says a release. “The bike folds and stores inside any Ford vehicle – where it can be charged while stowed.”

So just think — need a car, or aren’t using your own? If you’re signed up with Ford’s Peer-2-Peer Car Sharing program, you can benefit from people’s automobiles. Or an eBike — we know that we could use a bike that comes with navigation capabilities. Looks like at the moment, the future may be with Ford.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ann Binlot is a New York-based freelance writer who contributes to publications like The Economist, Wallpaper*, Monocle…

Travel

There’s a secret theme park in Arizona (and it will transport you to the past)

Have a yabba-dabba-do time at this theme park in Arizona

Bedrock City theme park in Arizona.

Forget about overcrowded theme parks like Disneyland or LEGOLAND. There are all sorts of cool, weird, and unique theme parks that need to be taken advantage of. If you grew up watching The Flintstones or have a child (or inner child) who is really into dinosaurs, a park in Arizona will transport you right back to the Stone Age. See how to ride with the family down the street to Bedrock City at Raptor Ranch.

Theme parks dedicated to the hit show
There have been a few theme parks across the U.S. bringing the Hanna-Barbera show to life.

Culture

E.T., The Goonies, Back to the Future: Your old VHS tapes might actually be worth thousands

Time to dig those VHS tapes out of your parents' basement

a stack of vhs tapes

Movie fans know that the method of watching a film really adds to the feelings and emotions you experience in relation to the picture. We all wish we could watch everything on the massive and aesthetically impressive theater screens that movies are intended to be shown on from the time they're released. But after a movie has been out for a while, the avenue we watch it by at home changes drastically through the decades. Now we seem to subscribe to a gluttony of streaming services that provide an endless number of movies to watch. Some people want to own films on Blu-ray or 4K. Old-school nerds will remember when everything had to be watched on VHS tapes, though.

The feeling of putting in a tape and hearing the cartridge rewind or fast forward created a tangible excitement for when the movie would finally begin. As DVDs started to take over the market in the late 1990s, VHS became a thing of the past. The format became essentially obsolete in the late 2010s, but any person familiar with the way retro technology works probably knows where this story is going. Collection addicts and movie nuts yearning for nostalgic remnants of their past are willing to pay big bucks for VHS tapes right now, leading to a classic supply and demand dilemma on sites like eBay. Some of the greatest movies of all time are being sold in the VHS format for thousands of dollars on the auction site:

Culture

Expert Rick Strassman talks psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and the future of psychedelics

Dr. Rick Strassman is here to tell us all about his guide to psychedelics

Some psychedelic trippiness.

Few people on Earth (or perhaps beyond?) can explain psychedelics as well as Dr. Rick Strassman. While he’s particularly well known for his foundational research on DMT, his expertise spans psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, ketamine, ayahuasca, mescaline, and a few others you might not have even heard of. Suffice it to say that he’s one of the biggest names in psychedelics, and having read hundreds of wide-ranging research papers on the topic, I've noticed that he is among the most frequently cited names in the field.

In 2000, Dr. Strassman rose to prominence with the release of his first book, DMT: The Spirit Molecule, in which he shared a decade’s worth of research on the substance. He was among the first of a new wave of psychedelic researchers to emerge in the early 1990s after decades of prohibition, and his scientifically- and medically-backed advocacy for psychedelics helped fuel the research boom and drive the psychedelic renaissance in which we find ourselves today.