Fleet professionals gather in Detroit for a closer look at Ford’s 2017 model lineup.
Ford put on a spectacular show at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan, turning part of the conference centre into a stage/track where stunt drivers pushed a broad range of vehicles to the limit, mere feet away from the audience. One of the vehicles, an F-150 drove onto the stage on two wheels!
After the fast-paced start of the show, the audience was introduced to a number of Ford executives and product specialists, each providing details on a specific Ford vehicle and technology, giving the thousands of fleet professionals in the audience, from all over North America, a better idea of how the company’s latest innovations will better suit fleet needs now, and in the future.
Guests of Ford’s 2017 Model Year Fleet Preview also had an opportunity to test drive most of the new vehicles on a track at Ford’s Dearborn Development Center. The much-anticipated SuperDuty was available for all to try–empty, with a 2,500 payload, as well as with a 10,000 lb. trailer.
Behind the wheel
Ford divided their Development Center into a number of pavilions, including a Technology Drive where visitors could test drive the latest Fusion, complete with the latest electronics. The Park Assist feature on the all-new Fusion includes the ability to both parallel park the vehicle, as well as to back into a conventional parking spot. Most impressive is the new Adaptive Cruise Control system, which will now bring the Fusion to a complete stop, autonomously, in order to prevent a collision with the vehicle ahead.
Telematics
At the “Ford Telematics, Powered by Telogis” pavilion fleet managers learned about some of the latest vehicle tracking and driver monitoring technologies. The hardware for these telematics solutions is installed at the factory, by Ford, and boasts a number of practical features including commercial traffic information for GPS, which automatically keeps vehicles off pre-determined streets.
The fleet manager can specify where a vehicle can and can’t go, which parts of town should be avoided, and which streets the GPS system should not guide the driver to travel on. These could be high-crime areas, or parts of the city that are notoriously congested. Whatever the case, the fleet manager has complete control.
Ford’s 2017 Fleet Preview offered fleet professionals a look at some of the exciting vehicles and technologies available now, in the near future, and in the years to come. Ford is working hard to meet and exceed the expectations of commercial vehicle customers, and it shows.
