Connected car data sharing helps make journeys safer – even if you don’t drive a Ford

Our vehicles are now providing drivers of cars from other brands with automatic advance warning of potentially dangerous driving conditions on the road ahead.

It’s part of an agreement led by the Data for Road Safety partnership, backed by the European Commission, that sees connected vehicles from manufacturers including Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo share live road-safety information with each other.

We introduced Local Hazard Information with our new Ford Puma in early 2020 to warn drivers about road safety dangers that might be around the corner. Since then, we’ve been enabling the feature on other newly built Fords in Europe, including the all-new Kuga.

Now vehicles from other manufacturers will also be able to identify and share information about hazards they encounter, together helping improve road safety by enabling more drivers to prepare for dangers ahead.

The system uses onboard vehicle data – such as airbag activation, emergency braking or fog light use – to automatically determine the presence and location of potential hazards. Relevant warnings are aggregated anonymously and appear on the dashboard display of vehicles in the vicinity of the potential hazard.

As well as warning other drivers, the information can be used to alert emergency services, providing accurate location data in seconds to help accelerate assistance.

Peter Geffers, manager, Connected Vehicles, Ford of Europe:

“Connected vehicles help drivers to anticipate hazards that may be lurking just around the next bend. Road-safety data sharing ecosystems are more effective the more vehicles and telematics sources they include; extending the benefits of this technology to those who do not drive Ford cars represents a significant step forwards.”

See more Ford technology stories. 

Follow @FordEU