In this most interesting speech Bill Ford – whilst stressing his enduring passion for the car and a slightly later acquired passion for the environment – accepted that population growth and increasing numbers of cars on our roads will soon lead to global gridlock. He stated that he shares his grandfather’s (Henry Ford’s) belief that “with mobility comes freedom and progress.” Noting that in his early years with Ford his environmental ideals found him in conflict with top management, he stated that gradually those ideals have become accepted as the popular view. He commented that though the industry is pushing hard to reduce emissions, even zero emission cars still make traffic jams that as a consequence can seriously limit our important freedom of mobility (Ford, 2011).
Hence, according to Bill Ford, we need a major “leap in thinking for us to create a viable future.” That is arguably the most important thing he said, which he then fleshed out with describing the concepts of “smart roads, smart parking, smart public transportation systems and more.” In short, creation of an integrated transportation system that uses sophisticated techniques and technology to cut traffic jams and other transport delays without losing the freedom of personal mobility that most of us take for granted.
The whole concept put forward by Bill Ford in his speech sounds not only exciting, but – unless a better idea comes along – essential to get underway and soon. Clearly, implementation of such a system is likely to require massive investment in transport infrastructure as well as a need to modify all existing road vehicles, plus integrating the road systems with rail and perhaps air traffic and ferries, etc, too. Ford mentions existing projects using some of these new approaches and technologies (Masdar in Abu Dhabi, New York and Hong Kong), but no doubt there are others already in hand. Overall, the concept could be truly life-changing!
References
Ford, Bill. (2011). “A future beyond traffic gridlock.” TED Conferences LLC. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_ford_a_future_beyond_traffic_gridlock.html
