Graphic courtesy of Ford.

Graphic courtesy of Ford.

Ford announced initiatives for a smart-city cloud platform that is designed to help prepare city ecosystems for upcoming changes in mobility, such as connected vehicle networks and autonomous cars.

Ford has partnered with Autonomic, a Silicon Valley-based company with broad experiences in cloud and distributed systems, as well as mobile and machine learning, to create the open Transportation Mobility Cloud, according to a release from Ford. The platform will manage a variety of components in the transportation ecosystem, including service provider fleets, mass transit systems, personal vehicles, pedestrians, and city infrastructure.

The platform is also designed to help curb road congestion and improve public transportation to city centers, Ford said.

“Building an ecosystem such as this requires the large-scale connection of bits of distinct data that flow from a variety of sources. And those sources — public transportation services, self-driving cars, cyclists and even infrastructure — will need to speak the same language and communicate with each other if we’re to realize the true potential of this type of ecosystem,” according to release from Ford.

The platform will be able to facilitate communication between various transportation methods and their internal operating services, including vehicle data, Ford said in a release. Additionally, the new cloud platform could help cities combat pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by geofencing areas off to be strictly for alt-fuel vehicle usage.

This platform is not exclusive to Ford, as the automaker has invited all transportation operating companies, including other automakers, to participate in the new smart cloud platform.

Originally posted on Automotive Fleet

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