Ford Motor Company launches competition for fuel-efficiency app
Ford marketing honcho聽Jim Farley recently gave the keynote address at the 2013 New York聽Show. While speaking about changes in the auto industry caused by shifts in demographics (e.g. Millennials) and mindsets (e.g. connectivity), he also announced a new app contest.
That contest -- dubbed the聽Personalized Fuel Efficiency App Challenge聽-- offers a cash prize to the software developer who creates the best new app for聽. The winning app might live on smartphones, or it might exist solely on Ford infotainment systems. According to聽:
Ford Motor Company is challenging software developers to create the best mobile or web-based apps that will help customers easily access their personal fuel-economy performance data. With this data, using on-road personalized experiences, customers can share, compare and learn how to optimize their fuel usage. Developers must use data via the OpenXC platform. Winners will receive $50,000.
Farley explained the rationale for the contest in his keynote speech:聽
We need to help customers understand the concept of personal fuel economy 鈥� based on their own individualized experiences 鈥� and give them tools to see, learn and act upon all the information available to know what to expect, how to improve, and even offer guidance in their shopping process.
WHY THIS, WHY NOW?
The timing of Ford's app challenge is curious for two reasons:
1.聽Ford is in the middle of a brouhaha concerning聽. Ford says -- quite rightly, in fact -- that聽聽varies more widely in hybrids than in conventional vehicles, thanks to hybrids' particularly sensitivity to weather, terrain, driving style, and other factors. Apps that draw attention to the ways in which such elements affect fuel efficiency might help prove Ford's point.
2. Whether or not Ford aims to do a little damage control with the Personalized Fuel Efficiency App Challenge, several apps already achieve the goals Ford has set out -- Automatic, for example, which聽. Hosting a competition is a great publicity move, but for Ford's purposes, wouldn't it be equally good, if not better, to collaborate with companies who are already bringing such apps to market?
Anyway, if you're a developer, and you're interested in taking a shot at Ford's $50,000 prize, you can聽.
