Ford Expands Advanced Mobility Partnerships in Europe

Ford Motor Co. has launched new research partnerships with two European organizations to pursue new approaches to personal mobility and autonomous vehicles.

Both programs are part of the "smart mobility" initiative Ford CEO Mark Fields announced in January. That plan involves 25 experiments on five continents dealing with new ways of moving the world's population in the future.

In Aachen, Germany, Ford's European Research and Innovation Center will collaborate with Aachen University's Innovation Management Institute to study and develop new personal mobility options.

In the U.K., Ford will contribute to the government-sponsored Autodrive initiative. The three-year project hopes to establish the U.K. as a global hub for developing technologies that enable self-driving cars. Ford will work with other carmakers and suppliers to learn how driverless and connected vehicles can be integrated into existing urban environments.

The British program will include real-world tests in two major cities in England. The evaluation will focus on connectivity among vehicles and with their infrastructure.