Ford Seeks Out More Data for Green Push 

To unearth rare elements such as lithium and platinum, auto manufacturer Ford is turning to data. Currently, Ford’s analytics tools are being used to keep a secure supply of these materials, but the company says that once its platform has been established, it also plans to use this information to identify areas where environmentally friendly alternatives could be used in Ford vehicles.

As a part of Friday’s 2013 Net Impact conference in San Jose, Calif., John Viera, global director of sustainability and vehicle environmental matters at Ford outlined this and other ways that the company is expanding its investment in big data.

For the past 15 years the automaker has been using such mathematical models at its Research and Innovation center, focusing on areas such as fuel economy. Through these investigations, the company was able to determine that the best approach for powertrains is a diverse one, which led the company to invest in hybrid, electric, biodiesel, compressed natural gas and liquid petroleum gas.

Their team of scientists, mathematicians and computer modelers have also been hard at work developing models to optimise possible vehicle combinations and construct an eco-conscious technology roadmap that’s led to green products like the Ford Auto Start-Stop, which saves fuel while a vehicle idles. On average, Ford has found that city drivers have improved fuel efficiency by ten percent, while there has been a 3.5 percent increase across the board thanks to this single tool.

And the data Ford is examining doesn’t stop there. Currently, Ford vehicles pump out 250 gigabytes of data per hour, which coming back to the Research and Innovation center to continue fuel economy studies as well as investigations into vehicle emissions.

The company says it plans to use these data to reroute driving routes to reduce negative impacts on air quality and optimise the use of biofuels both current and in development.

“I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that Ford now ranks among the greenest brands in the world,” Viera says. “The company’s investment in the field of big data analytics have continually increased during the last 15 years.”

“There are so many amazing possibilities to consider for the future impact of big data,” he adds. “The possibilities are not only exciting, they are in fact, almost endless.”