Ford has launched the Innovate Mobility Challenge Series to find innovative mobility solutions across eight different regions in the world. These regions include:• Lisbon, Portugal.
• Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, India.
• Los Angeles, United States.
• Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Shanghai, China.
• Countrywide challenge in Argentina.
Eight challenges of the Innovate Mobility Series will require developers and makers to propose solutions to specific locally relevant problems which plague the particular region the most. They shall include reduction of congestion, delivery of healthcare solutions, and improving mobility during the monsoon season.
Using its globally accessible open-source platform OpenXC, Ford intends to bring local perspective to developers across the world via the amalgamation of vehicle data with other locally relevant data sources to solve the needs of specific cities or regions.
Thanks to rapid urbanization and ever increasing population, personal mobility and efficiency hold a pivotal position in the automotive world. A smarter, more connected mobility will lead to an increase in efficiency and safety, reduce traffic congestion and contribute to environmental improvements, at the same time making personal mobility easier and more effective.
About Indian Cities:
• Mumbai: With the monsoons stretching to several months, the rains can leave the transportation system of the metropolis crippled, including flooded, blocked roads and the suspension of the city’s commuter rail system – the Monsoon App Downpour Challenge will focus on leveraging vehicles and information to improve mobility during extreme weather conditions. Mumbai’s submission period will run from July 15 to October 14, 2014. The winners will be announced in November, 2014.
• Delhi: The SUMURR Golden Hour Challenge invites developers to create software applications accumulating information to decrease the time to get to healthcare services and increase information available for healthcare to improve health outcomes within the critical golden hour after a traumatic incident. The submission period will run from July 30 to October 30, 2014.
• Chennai region: The prime focus of this group will also be on healthcare. The SUMURR mHealth Challenge will focus on collecting information to extend health services for remote rural regions accessible from Chennai. The submission period will again run from July 30 to October 30, 2014.
