Plug-in hybrids that can run on electric motors or internal combustion engines may soon be able to pick and predict their powertrain use depending on location and past driving habits.
It’s part of a collaboration between Ford, with their years of driver behavior research, and Google Prediction API, which can make useful predictions in real-time using that historical data.
Ford first announced that collaboration at Google I/O back in May. Today, the automaker will demonstrate the technology publicly for the first time, showing off a cloud-connected prototype Escape plug-in hybrid at the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems in Orlando. With no driver input, the Escape can automatically turn its gas engine on and off depending on whether it’s entering a dense urban zone where only EVs are allowed. Such “exclusion zones” are common in Europe, where Ford debuted their new, highly-connected Evos concept (above) earlier this year. via Wired/autopia
October 20, 2011
