Ford’s experiment to reward good drivers with cheaper travel costs

New Ford Mobility experiment helps drivers find out how good they really are – potentially saving them money. 

Ever wondered what your driving style would score should it ever be rated?

A new Ford Smart Mobility experiment, currently demonstrated in London, aims to encourage and reward good drivers with reduced travel costs. Using an app (much like a fitness and exercise app) driving behaviour is assessed and a personal score is given.

Also read: All good drivers have these 10 habits 

Your score is based on a number of things: steady acceleration, smooth steering, driving in the correct gear and braking, to name a few.

The Ford-led Driver Behaviour Project investigates the potential for drivers with good driving scores to benefit from cheaper car-hire and car-sharing, as well as the opportunity for insurers to offer discounts.

“Like an activity-tracking app that shows the distance we cover and calories we burn, a personal driver score encourages people to drive smarter,” said Johnathan Scott, project lead, Ford Smart Mobility. “We wanted to better understand how people use our products so we could help them to improve that behaviour – and a score, combined with guidance, makes it easier to improve.”

Over a four-month period, plug-in devices gathered data from more than 40 Ford Fiestas, driven by volunteers in London, to record actions that each driver took over 160 000 km and more than 4 000 hours. This included detailing the slightest turn of the steering wheel and harsh braking, as well as time of day, weather and road history.

Encourage good driving 

If the app succeeds, and drivers are rewarded based on their scores, this could be a great way to encourage good driving all-round. Wouldn’t it be great if it became a trend, much like some of the fitness apps that more and more people are using to encourage a healthy lifestyle?

The app also suggests ways that drivers could improve their scores and calculates a score for each trip based on how the driver interacts with the car. The score changes for each trip and the drivers can eventually see where they’ve improved over time via a graph.

The Driver Behaviour Project could help to enhance mobility solutions, including the on-demand GoDrive car sharing service and the on demand ride sharing service GoRide.

“As headline sponsor of London Technology Week, the company is hosting the panel discussion and networking session. ‘Changing the way the world moves’ at 16:30 CET on June 21, at the Vinyl Factory in Soho. Mobility and technology experts from Transport for London, the geocoding system What3Words, the technology focused merchant bank Lepe Partners and IDEO will be among the panellists. The session will be moderated by startup expert, connector and advisor Bindi Karia. Guests also will be able to talk to Mike Nakrani, head of Ford Smart Mobility Europe, and other Ford Smart Mobility project leads.”

Source: Ford Motor Company South Africa